


Another Way

by watershark04



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi Goro Needs a Hug, Akechi Goro Redemption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, But not too far away, Eventual Romance, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay, M/M, POV Multiple, Persona 5 Spoilers, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Should be pretty soon, gay thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:01:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25860262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watershark04/pseuds/watershark04
Summary: Goro's conscience starts to break his will, and he decides he's had enough of being controlled. Being told to eliminate the only person he loves has pushed it way over the line. Instead of continuing to work with his accomplices, he decides to secretly team up with Akira to defeat them. More tags may be added as I go.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 17
Kudos: 113





	1. Confession

**10/24 Evening**

**Akira**

Walking back from the station was almost like a day long trip through Mementos. Akira was so exhausted and stressed out due to the public situation with the CEO Kunikazu Okumura, he felt like he was running out of options.

Thinking was difficult. Talking was difficult. Akira was just losing everything that entered his mind to the void of chaos. _Some leader I am,_ he thought to himself. _Relying on my teammates for just about everything to do with this situation._

He felt like some sleep for sure, but even that was hard to accomplish at this point in time. Even as all this internal monologue was droning on, the way back to Leblanc was ingrained in his brain at this point. He could make it there without needing to think, so at least there was that.

Leblanc felt like a true home to Akira. Sojiro was a wonderful caretaker, more so than his so-called parents who he had felt distant from his entire life, especially now. Even though Sojiro was a little cold to begin with, Akira felt something from him he hadn’t truly felt from his parents. And he was certain now that Sojiro really cared for him as if he were his own son, just in his own way.

The friends Akira had made here in Tokyo were more than he could have asked for. His grades in school were worthy of an honour status, though Akira didn’t want that kind of attention. Even though it was currently killing him inside, he loved his life as a phantom thief as well. Surely this issue would blow over. He would find a way to fix this predicament eventually.

And one person in particular… Goro Akechi. Ever since Akira met that boy, he hadn’t been able to get him out of his head.

Technically speaking, they could be seen as being on opposite sides, but Akira didn’t care. He was so perfect. His angelic smile, his flawless face, charismatic personality, and that intriguing vibe he gives off. The thought provoking conversations they had were what Akira felt like were some of the best moments of his life. Every look into those reddish-brown eyes made Akira want more.

“Hey.”

A voice snapped him back to reality. Morgana was tapping his shoulder.

“You’ve just been standing outside Leblanc for 5 minutes now. Are you okay?”

Akira hadn’t even noticed he arrived home. Funny how he was having so much trouble thinking, but as soon as his mind comes to Goro the time just evaporates. He wished he could use that same train of thought for the situation with the Phantom Thieves.

“Yeah Mona, I’m fine. Just… distracted I guess.”

Morgana said something in reply, but it too was lost to the void of chaos encompassing Akira’s brain. _Focus Akira, focus. You’re no use to anyone like this._ He inhaled a good lungful of the scent of Sojiro’s coffee as he opened the door and stepped into Leblanc.

* * *

And who was waiting for him there other than the hot detective prince himself. Dressed in his school uniform and black gloves, he really looked like the embodiment of an ace detective. Seeing Goro’s smiling face was all Akira needed to brighten up his own.

“Welcome home!” he greeted cheerily. _God he’s so cute,_ was the only thought Akira could have that didn’t disappear. Instinctively, he decided to respond flirtatiously.

“Honey, I’m home!”

Partly to Akira’s surprise and partly to his satisfaction, Akechi didn’t even bat an eye.

“You’re back awfully late.”

There was nothing Akira could do but keep that unintentionally sly and seductive smile on his face. Goro turned to Sojiro and politely asked “How has business been for you lately?”

Sojiro lightly huffed with a touch of irritation.

“Take a look around. Is the Niijima lady doing well?”

Goro’s face turned a little sad. Akira hated that. He wanted nothing but happiness for Akechi after having been told of how he was brought up when they were at the bathhouse together. An awful father who abandoned him. A mother who tried to take care of him but didn’t last much longer after his father left. Nothing could change Akira’s feelings for him. He was positive about that.

_Nothing…_

“Unfortunately, we haven’t seen each other lately” he said. “We had a… difference of opinion.”

Before Akira could say anything, the TV blared a headline loudly, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room.

“What are your thoughts, Representative Shido?”

Goro was turned away from Akira to watch the TV, but Akira caught Sojiro quickly glaring at the TV at the mention of the name. He wondered what that was about.

“It doesn’t surprise me that people say this country is lethargic. We’ve let these ‘Phantom Thieves’ run amok,” the bald man named Shido responded.

His words washed over Akira like a Brain Shake attack. It wasn’t what he said that affected him though. _That man’s voice…_

As he continued to talk, the feeling continued to grow in Akira. Some pompous male customer sitting in the corner started clapping.

“That politician’s really honourable. I like how quick he says he’s gonna do everything.”

 _Shut up…_ Akira growled under his breath, desperately trying to match this voice to whatever it’s reminding him of. Shido kept on speaking, to which the customer responded again.

“Man, this guy is admirable.” With another round of applause, Akira had had enough of him. He wanted to shove this guy off his seat.

_Shove…_

Then it hit him. It was him. Shido was the one who got him arrested. Shido was the one who caused him to be shamed and verbally abused back in his hometown. Shido is the reason he had to move to Tokyo for a year and start over. Shido was the person who had caused him no end of hardship.

In Akira’s current state of mind, he couldn’t take it. A migraine split through his head. He fell to his knees and clutched his temples and ears, his bag fell off his back and sent Morgana sprawling across the ground.

“Mrow?!” Morgana yelped, surprised and concerned for Akira.

Goro turned and quickly got out of his chair.

“Akira? What’s wrong!?”

“Hey kid, are you alright?” Sojiro said worriedly as he went to pick up Morgana.

Akira barely heard them over his own mind screaming at him. He didn’t know what to do. There was too much coming at him all at once. He couldn’t handle it right now.

“I- I’m fine,” he managed to say. Akira scrambled to his feet and ran straight towards the stairs to his room, leaving a very confused and very worried group of people watching him go.

* * *

**Goro**

Akira Kurusu was the only person Goro truly cared about. There was something about him that made Goro’s heart jump. He had seen it in him constantly ever since they met, and it was more than just Goro's admiration of his intellect and ability. His grey eyes that shone like silver, his messy black hair, his seductive grin, and most of all, his ability to surpass Goro in so many things.

It annoyed him. A lot. He kept telling himself he hated Akira for all of that. But he knew that it was because he was jealous of Akira. He wanted to be better than him, outdo him, because he loved him. Because he thought maybe if he was better, Akira would harbour the same feelings for Goro that Goro has for him.

Seeing something like this happen to Akira hurt his heart. He felt like doing everything in his power to protect him, make sure no harm comes to him. Ironic, considering Goro has caused the deaths of quite a few people. That weighed on his conscience a lot. He didn’t want to do it. He did it because Shido told him to. The most important thing in his life, even more important than Akira, was getting back at his piece of shit of a father for all he had done to Goro and his mother. And this was the only way to get to Shido. Right? This was what he had to do, right?

In reality he’d had enough. He didn’t want to do this. He only wanted Akira. But if Akira ever found out what Goro had done, he’d never like him. Especially considering Akira and his friends were the Phantom Thieves. Oh yes, he knew. He’d devised a whole plan to accomplish the next task Shido had set for him. But that was just a habit his intellect had gotten itself into. Just like the other cases, he didn’t want to kill the leader of the Phantom Thieves. But he must, to get to Shido. Right?

But Akira was hurting right now. He need to know why. He needed to help. He needed to track down whoever or whatever was causing this and end it. He heard Boss clear his throat behind him, and Goro turned to find him standing uneasily, holding the cat.

“Err, I think perhaps it’s time we close for the night,” he said sternly with a quick nod to the customer in the corner. Luckily he got the message, and left. Goro was going to say something but Boss beat him to it.

“You two are good friends from what I’ve seen, right? Could you, you know… go check on him? I’ll take Morgana back home for the night. Akira may want to be alone later to get some good rest.”

Goro nodded and turned on his heel to stroll up the stairs, while Sojiro headed back to his house.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw Akira sitting on the edge of his bed with his knees hugged tightly to his chest and his forehead resting on top of them. Goro had never seen him looking so… fragile. Akira was always so inquisitive, flirtatious, cheery, and he let off a powerful aura. At this moment he looked as bleak as the attic room he was staying in.

_Okay Goro, don’t fuck this up. Akira needs you. Talk to him. Be… comforting._

“Uh, Akira?” he said quietly, and Akira slowly looked up and met his eyes. As Goro walked closer he saw that the normally confident, cocky and passionate grey eyes on Akira’s face looked downtrodden, almost defeated, and slightly moist, likely due to tears. His expression was tired, but perhaps trying to show a little surprise and embarrassment from being found like this.

“Goro… I, uh…”

And now he was seeing Akira flustered. This was also a rare sight, but definitely one Goro had seen before. He remembered how red his face had become when Boss suggested they go to the bathhouse together. And he loved it. But now wasn’t the time for that. He sat down beside Akira.

“What’s the matter? You looked like you were in pain. Is there something bothering you?”

Akira looked like he wanted to say something, but he hesitated. _Come on, be gentler,_ Goro thought to himself. _This isn’t an interrogation. Don’t be insensitive._

“You can tell me about anything. I’m here for you.” _That’s better. Calm him down. He’s clearly shaken._

Finally, Akira started to talk. He looked like he was having trouble getting the words out, but it was clear to Goro by his slightly warmer expression that he did indeed want to respond.

“Uhh, w-well… I’m sorry I worried you, firstly. I guess it was kind of inappropriate for me to just rush out like that. I’m just a little overwhelmed right now.”

Goro knew it was more serious to Akira than that. He still seemed so timid, and it made Goro want to give him a huge hug right there. And as much as he didn’t want to admit it to himself, that would largely be to his benefit as well, what with him being so touch starved due to his lack of family and friends. But he refrained, at least for now.

“Overwhelmed? What do you mean?”

He had to know who or what was causing this in Akira. He took a deep, slightly shaky breath in and started to explain.

“Well, I’ve had quite a lot going on right now, especially in my head. But that interview on the TV just then triggered a bad memory of mine.”

Goro stared at him. The interview with Shido? Suddenly he was more concerned. If that bastard had something to do with Akira’s current pain, things were about to escalate between himself and his cruel father real fucking quick. He pressed a little further.

“What do you mean? What kind of memory?” he asked.

“You remember why I’m staying here in Tokyo in the first place, right?”

That Goro did know. He had seen Akira’s criminal record himself when he was investigating the similarities between the case of the teacher Suguru Kamoshida, and that of the artist Ichiryusai Madarame when the Phantom Thieves first emerged earlier in the year. Akira had _allegedly_ attacked a man by shoving him to the ground, injuring him. Goro didn’t believe a bit of that, but there wasn’t really much he could do to overrule a case that had been decided ages ago. A name was not listed for the victim either, nor an exact location of the crime, so Goro wouldn’t really be able to do any investigating by himself even if he had the time for it. That just made Akira all the more interesting.

“Yes, you’re on probation for a year for your apparent assault case," he recited. "This is related to the interview with Shido?”

“It was him. Shido. I recognised his voice. That’s the guy who sued me and had me arrested. He manipulated the situation on the site and behind the scenes. He caused everything.”

Akira said it so bluntly, but Goro’s anger suddenly surfaced. That was it. He couldn’t take it anymore. The man who had ruined Goro’s life had tried to ruin Akira’s. Akira, who had done nothing wrong and only wanted to help everyone. Akira, who was the only person Goro was ever able to properly connect with. Their situations were caused by the same shitty adult. He’d had enough. Now Shido had gone too far. Goro still swore his revenge on that awful excuse of a human, but this time not only for his sake. And it certainly would not involve cooperating with him anymore.

However, Goro knew what this now meant. _I have to come clean. I have to tell Akira what I’ve really been doing. It’s only fair. It’s my only choice._

Goro growled to himself. “I’ll kill that son of a bitch.” He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Akira turned his head.

“Huh? You know him?”

Goro sighed. “Akira, I think there’s a lot I should probably tell you.”

Akira let go of his legs, letting them drop to the floor, and he rotated his body to properly face Goro.

“What do you mean?”

_Fuck it. If he hates me, he hates me. I have to tell him._

“Akira, I’m so very sorry. I’m probably the cause of all your stress over the Okumura incident.”

He stared at Goro. “Huh? How did you know that-“

“I know you and your friends are the Phantom Thieves.”

Akira didn’t look as shocked as Goro thought he would. He looked a little more annoyed than anything. He chuckled a bit bitterly.

“I should’ve known someone like you would be able to catch onto that somehow. But don’t think it’s your fault that I’m stressed out. The public thinks we killed Okumura and-“

“I did.”

Akira’s face grew more solemn. “You… what?”

Goro could feel his own tears start to well up.

“It was me. It’s my fault. I’m the one who has caused the mental shutdowns.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of just a random thought I liked to think about, so I decided to try writing it. Hopefully it will turn out well? I don't have huge expectations right now at least. Let me know what you think!


	2. An Old Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira and Goro discuss their options

**10/24 Evening**

**Akira**

Multiple different emotions washed over Akira all at once. It was so sudden, so quick, but lasted what felt like the rest of his probation sentence. He couldn’t even tell which feeling was which. Was he mad…? No, not exactly. Even if he was instantly in love when he met Goro, the pancakes comment never slipped by him, and had remained in the back of his mind all this time. If anything, Goro had confirmed his suspicion.

He wasn’t angry, no. But he obviously wasn’t just going to let it slip. Akira believed anyone and everyone deserves a chance at redemption. Even Akechi. Especially Akechi. He noticed the tears that were starting to drop from Goro’s eyes as well, and knew immediately this went a little further than him just being sorry for Akira. He had to help him. Akira wasn’t always the best at reading emotions, but it was pretty simple to figure that Akechi has regrets, and he wants to do something about it. At least, Akira desperately hoped that was the case.

“Please, say something!” Goro cried, and dragged Akira back into reality. His thoughts had finally begun to work, and he had completely zoned out. He forgot he actually had to communicate. _Well, let’s sort this through bit by bit._

“So… it really was you.” _Dammit, probably not a good start,_ he thought. Goro straightened himself up though, surprised by his response.

“Huh? Hold on… you were suspecting me?”

“Oh, heh,” Akira chuckled slightly. “About that... I feel like we have a lot to discuss now. Let’s go downstairs, I’ll make us some coffee.”

* * *

Akira stood behind the counter as he slid a cup of coffee over to Goro, who was sitting patiently and waiting. Both of them were completely silent and didn’t make eye contact for the entire duration of the brewing of their drinks. They both needed to gather their thoughts, so Akira wasn’t bothered. Honestly though, it didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. It was as if Akechi’s presence eliminated the entire concept of ‘awkward silence’. Akira secretly hoped Goro felt the same around him.

Akira slid down the rail next to the stairs in order to avoid making the noise of the creaky steps, and made a quick lap around Leblanc to disable Futaba’s listening devices she had previously placed around, using his nails in order to not leave any fingerprints. It was probably not necessary but you can never be too careful. He had hunted for and located them one night, mainly out of curiosity over where exactly she had put them, but that knowledge came in especially handy now.

Once he had made sure nobody was able to listen, he explained what had happened back at the TV station in June. Akira knew that Goro liked being discreet, cautious, and kind of a perfectionist, so it was amusing to watch his face screw up a little bit. _That’s adorable,_ Akira thought to himself. Then he scolded himself for getting distracted again. Even if Goro wanted to abandon this side of the battle (god he hoped he did), he was never going to be able to mask his annoyance at himself for not doing his job properly.

“Only Morgana mentioned pancakes? Ugh, I’m usually more observant than that. But I have to admit, I’m impressed you picked up on that when even I didn’t. Your insight is so powerful, you know? You notice and understand every fine, minuscule detail.” Goro sounded irritated, yes, but he seemed to actually like how Akira had figured him out. _Was that just my imagination?_

“Goro, would I be correct in assuming you were going to try and set us up to catch us? You said you knew we were the Phantom Thieves.” Akira had to know what his intentions were, and whether or not he plans to continue with them.

“To be honest, the plan I concocted was to catch you, kill you and make your death look like a suicide.”

That hurt Akira’s heart a little. But he liked how Akechi had said the plan _was_ to kill him. It seems he changed his mind. “Oh. You don’t still intend to do that, do you?” he asked.

“I have brought the plan to my accomplices already. But I won’t finish it. I’m done with them. With _him._ Now that I know he has attempted to ruin your life in the past, and that he intends to again in the near future, has pushed me and this whole thing to a point where I have realised my actions were not right, and I will instead seek to do what is best. There has to be another way…”

Akira was shocked. _Ruined my life in the past?_ He had to know what was going on. “Do- do you mean Shido? You were cooperating with him to kill me?!”

Goro let out a shaky sigh and wiped away the few tears on his face. “Unfortunately, that man is the terrible father who ruined my life, as I’ve told you. I don’t think he even knows we’re actually related. I thought that by helping him, getting nearer to him and growing in his trust, I’d be able to reach the point where I can reveal to him who I am, rule over him even just for a moment, and then kill him, all as revenge for what he put me and my mother through.”

Akira couldn’t believe it. This horrible, selfish, despicable man, who had caused him so much trouble this year, made him hated by everyone in his hometown including his parents, and turned his life into a monitored, fragile existence that nobody wanted to deal with or care about had also been the wretched father of his source of lovesickness, Goro Akechi. And he had made Goro suffer way more. He felt his anger rise.

“I know I can’t keep doing that though,” Goro continued. “I need more options, but I’m stuck.”

“I understand your thoughts and actions. You’re right, though- there is a better way of dealing with him.” Akira stared at him intently. “Help us change his heart. I know who he is now, and he has a Palace for sure. We can definitely use him as the Phantom Thieves’ next target!

“Akira…”

“If we can take him down and make him confess his crimes, that’ll bring you out from your current position and heal the Phantom Thieves’ reputation by revealing who’s really responsible for Okumura’s death!”

“Akira hold on.“

“Especially with your help-“

“Kurusu! Stop getting ahead of yourself!”

Hearing Goro raise his voice like that was not something Akira could say he remembers witnessing before. And he even found it a little frightening. _Okay, tone it down a little Akira. Listen to what he has to say._ “Sorry, got a bit lost in my emotions. But, what’s the problem?”

Goro looked a little irritated with himself, turning his head towards the ground and letting his brown hair fall loosely off of his forehead, waving in front of him. Of course, Akira was immensely distracted by this for a brief moment, then rebuked himself again. _Holy shit stop doing this! You can be gay later, just focus!_ Luckily, he got his head together before Goro started to speak again.

“I apologise. But you see, the problem, as I mentioned just then is that I’m stuck. I can’t exactly join the Phantom Thieves. I find it hard to believe that they all trust me,” he said plainly.

Akira knew he was right. Ever since they met Akechi at the TV station, Ryuji had constantly kept a negative attitude towards him due to him not being on the same page as the Phantom Thieves. Ann had also shown a little skepticism towards him, not liking how he was affecting public opinion since a lot of what he said sounded right. The rest of the group had really been against him as well recently. Their discussions over what to do about the Okumura incident, as well as the debate on whether or not they should invite him as celebrity guest to the school festival to try and use him as a source of intel, made very clear that they don’t particularly like or trust him right now.

“Furthermore, as much as I hate to admit it, Shido has been manipulating me all this time. He has me wrapped around his finger. He will be expecting me to actively cooperate with him and update him on my side of things, as usual, so a cautious man such as him will know if I have betrayed him. We would have no time to infiltrate his palace and change his heart. He will have me swiftly eliminated, and it’s impossible to know how as well. His connections run so deep throughout Tokyo, he can cause just about anything to happen,” Goro explained with disgust.

Akira desperately tried to think of something. ‘Something’ was a bit too unspecific though. Was he trying to come up with a solution? Give some kind of inspirational response? Comfort Goro? It all jumbled together in his head, forming the solid answer of _Hadsgadhasbiwfbueakfrvbuqfrcomeonnnn,_ but the only thing that came out of Akira’s mouth was “Fuck.”

At least Goro let out a single chuckle, clearly amused by his answer. Technically Akira had accomplished all three. He’d comforted Goro, to uh, some extent. It was inspiring enough to at least make him want to try harder. And it was a solution they could use that would temporarily wash their problems away.

 _NO, come on! Shut up, what are you thinking?_ But the fact that he had realised exactly what he was thinking made him laugh quietly a little too. Goro smiled a little bit. “Well, I guess that is what I am,” he mused. “Fucked.” Akira really had to force himself to not provide a response that would ruin their discussion.

“Yeah, well, it would be me if you didn’t come to your senses and change your mind,” Akira joked. He liked it a whole lot better seeing Goro when the pressure wasn’t right on top of him, even for just a minute. He felt like the other side of a scale. Due to public opinion and controversy, the weight, the stress, and the trouble would all fall on him and be from Akechi, or it would be the other way around. If only they could find a balance, work together and take an equal weight, helping each other until the only weight left on each side was simply themselves.

“That’s true actually,” Goro remarked, “since the plan I had to come up with would have started taking place the day after tomorrow.”

Akira blinked. “What did you say?” _This Wednesday? How could this possibly begin that soon?_

“Well, I was going to accept the invitation for your school festival and use that as an opportunity to blackmail you and your friends into infiltrating Sae-san’s Palace with me so you could be captured there.”

That was a giant load of incomprehensible information in one single statement. _Sae Niijima has a Palace? Get captured inside of the Metaverse? Blackmail with what? He couldn’t possibly bring proof of the Metaverse without exposing himself, right?_ Akira framed all these questions to Goro, and he answered them in detail. Akira was very confused by his intended actions and ideas.

“Alright, Sae Niijima having a Palace is believable,” Akira began. “However, first of all, bringing a squad of police officers into the Metaverse would obviously not be a good move. And second, you are aware that it’s really not hard to photoshop or edit those images and videos you have as 'proof', right?”

“Yes, I know it would be bad, but it would’ve been the only way to catch you in the act. And yes again, I know such evidence can be faked, although in you and your group’s current stressed out state of mind and likely irrational, worst-case-scenario thinking process, a confident claim backed up with a quick glance at some ‘evidence’ may have backed you into a corner, wouldn’t it?” he countered.

Akira did have to agree that Goro had quite the wit, but maybe this was a bit too bold. “And what if it didn’t corner us? That’s quite a risk to take.”

Goro smirked. “Well, if I were to take a lesson from your own behaviour as it seems, if you’re not living life on the edge then you’re taking up too much space,” he said impertinently with a wink.

Surprise hit Akira hard, like the bullet Goro was told to put in his head. _Did… did Goro Akechi just flirt? With me?_ All Akira found himself able to do was grin, and he decided to let Goro get away with it for now. He had an idea. “You know what? Do it.”

Goro stared at him, dumbfounded. “Excuse me?”

“The only thing we can do is continue on as if we were on opposite sides. We’ll have to figure things out as we come to them and leave everyone else in the dark for now. That way we can work together and come up with a plan while keeping suspicions down on both ends. So do it. Come to the festival and provide us with your blackmail. We’ll see how that goes.”

It was risky. They could end up in a bad situation. But it was the only option. Goro pondered this for a moment, then shook his head slightly and sighed. Not in a disagreeing manner, but somewhat desperate and reluctant. Nevertheless, still accepting. “I guess you’re right. There isn’t much more we can do right now. I’ll continue providing my updates to Shido and begin the plan for your demise. Let’s hope we can figure something out by the time of your ‘suicide’.”

“When is that supposed to happen? We need to gauge a time limit,” Akira suggested.

“In order for that plan to remain inconspicuous, we set the date of the capture and murder to around November 17-18, aligning with Sae-san’s investigation that she will be assigned to. Unfortunately, that’s only to rile her up more to use her cognitive world properly for the arrest. It really is just one big setup with no concern for anyone else.” He grimaced a little.

Akira quickly did the maths. “Sooo that leaves us with just over 3 weeks. That is at least a considerable amount of time, I suppose… yeah, continue with your plan for Shido. We’ll see where that takes us next after Wednesday.”

Akechi nodded. “I’ll come to the first day of the festival tomorrow as well, check around the location before the panel and think things over.” He rose from his chair. “Well, I should take my leave now. It is rather late. See you tom-“

“Wait!”

Goro turned his body to face Akira again. “What’s wrong?”

Akira suddenly got nervous. That annoyed him. _Come on, just ask him. Get your gay ass in gear._ “Well, umm, I was thinking, instead of rushing for the last train you could… you know…”

Akira hoped he really did see what he saw. He could’ve sworn Goro’s eyes widen just a bit with what appeared to him as very well concealed, but not unnoticeable excitement. “…Yes?” he said slowly.

 _Ugh, just do it Akira! It’s not like you’re asking him out! Do it!_ “M-Maybe you could… stay the night?”

Goro smiled in that manner Akira couldn’t help falling for. God he was cute. “Well, it would be rather convenient. It could be fun too. I-I’ve never had the opportunity to sleep over at someone else’s place before…”

“So you will!” Akira’s heart rate raised with his happiness. Goro raised a hand to his mouth and laughed softly. “I’d love to! Although, I don’t happen to be properly prepared for this. I don’t have the materials required…”

Akira’s flirtatious nature finally took over. “Well, after that disguise stunt we pulled at that café not too long ago, I recall you saying that our clothes should fit each other if we needed a more elaborate performance in the future. I have a few things I could lend you,” he said enticingly.

Akechi tried to hide his blushing face, and Akira found that adorable, but he toned it down nevertheless. “I also have a spare futon and toiletries that I bought but haven’t used as of yet, so you can have those too.”

* * *

Two hours of talking and preparing for bed later, they decided to call it a night. Akira sneakily decided to pull his mattress off the crates supporting it so he could lie on the floor next to Akechi, while he was downstairs having offered to switch off the lights and lock up. When he came back up, he either didn’t notice what Akira had done (which was very unlikely) or he was okay with that.

Akira almost could’ve sworn their futons ended up a little closer together after he had looked away for a moment, but he forgot how exhausted he was, so didn’t think much of it.

As Akira got into bed, he didn’t even have a moment to think. He would’ve passed out immediately if he didn’t remind himself to say “Night Goro.”

“Goodnight, Akira,” Goro responded cheerfully. Akira was happy he had managed to make Goro happy again for a while by hosting him for the night. Just before he drifted off he heard, “Akira?”

“Yeah?”

“…Thank you. For trusting me, even after what I told you. For helping me. For giving me a chance to redeem myself. I could never have expected to feel so at home. So welcome. Now I actually do, thanks to you.”

Akira smiled to himself. “I could say I feel the same about you. Leblanc is my home, but I’ve never felt this at home before, even here. Everything is going to turn out fine. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this is heading in an interesting direction. Next update might be a little longer to come, since I have a lot of study etc to do this week. Hope you like this!


	3. School Festival: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually got this done sooner than I thought. It's also quite a bit longer than the previous ones I believe, and idk if longer is better but here it is! Hope you enjoy!

**10/25 Morning**

**Goro**

Despite having only five or so hours of sleep since he and Akira stayed up until rather late, Goro felt quite rested after waking up that morning. He glanced to the right, and noticed Akira was still asleep. His gentle breathing and cute face made Goro smile to himself. He wanted this boy all to himself, and was very happy that the first time he had ever experienced a sleepover was with him. In a way, Goro actually did have him all to himself at least for the moment.

Akira had promised that everything would be okay. Goro believed him. Just yesterday he was convinced that he was done for, thinking he was unable to choose a side for a multitude of reasons. But now that he had Akira, he was more determined that he really could overcome his situation instead of being manipulated, instead of losing sight of himself, instead of just going with the shit hand he was constantly being dealt by whatever was controlling his life. Alongside Akira, he felt like they were unstoppable together.

Goro sat up and stretched his arms, cracked his back and rolled his shoulders. He stood up and lightly treaded over to the corner of the room to retrieve his phone. He didn’t know how heavy of a sleeper Akira was, but he wasn’t going to take any chances and accidentally wake him up. He grabbed his school blazer and fished his phone out of one of the inner pockets to check the time. _6:00am. Seems my altered circadian rhythm hasn’t failed me yet,_ he thought to himself.

He realised he was still wearing Akira’s clothes. True to his previous estimation, they fit him as perfectly as they did Akira. They were surprisingly comfortable as well. Goro made a mental note to buy himself something similar. _Or you could just steal these ones. Akira has plenty, he likely wouldn’t care._ Goro then felt quite embarrassed with himself for that thought.

 _Gah, what are you doing? There are more important things to think about than fawning over a hot boy!_ He was just making it worse by arguing with himself, so he shook his head and decided to cross the road for a quick bath since he didn’t have one the day before.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, body refreshed and mind clear, he stepped back into Leblanc and found Akira now awake. He was standing behind the counter looking like a professional barista with his apron and concentrated gaze. He wasn’t wearing his glasses either, which was a look Goro definitely appreciated. Akira turned towards Goro with a mocking expression of disappointment.

“You could’ve waited for me you know. I was planning to go to the bathhouse this morning too.”

Goro sensed some truth in his statement though. Now he was disappointed as well that he wasted this opportunity. Instead of scolding himself this time, he just internally rolled his eyes.

 _Dammit Goro you’re so gay. Get a grip,_ muttered one side of his brain. The other said _AkiraAkiraAkiraAkiraAkira._

“Sorry about that,” he replied. “I didn’t want to wake you up, but I didn’t want to leave it too long since I need to stop off at my apartment before visiting your school.”

Akira laughed at him. “I forgive you. I see you haven’t changed clothes though. Do you like mine that much?” he teased.

 _Yes,_ Goro wanted to say. But he refused to let Akira have that satisfaction right now. “I have no reason to change yet. Might as well still relax for the morning while I still can.”

“Well I’m glad you think the same way, because I’ve just made us some coffee,” Akira said and gestured to the mug in front of him that he apparently left for Goro. As he sat down, Akira turned around to grab a plate from the side of the bench that was used for cooking and slid it across to Goro, adding “I also started making some breakfast!”

Goro took one look at the plate and was instantly unimpressed with Akira. He looked up and raised an eyebrow disdainfully. “Really? _Pancakes?_ ”

Akira laughed again. “Come on, I thought it was funny!”

 _Yeah yeah, hilarious,_ Goro thought and simply rolled his eyes. He grabbed a knife and a fork, one pair of the two that were waiting on the bench. He seldom used such cutlery, but unlike chopsticks they were very easy to use for the first time, so needless to say he had no trouble when he did.

He took a bite, and it was very clear Akira had plenty of practice and ability making them. _Dammit, he’s a good cook too? What more do I need from a guy?!_ He sipped his coffee to reinforce that thought, and unsurprisingly it was as perfect as usual. Sakura-san's coffee has the most professional and experienced flavour to it, but Akira's was just as good in a different way. It has its own sort of flair to it.

Akira cleared his throat. “I would assume from the obvious smile on your face that you are trying so hard to hide, you like them?” he questioned with a smirk. That bold, confident face of his was just so attractive, it literally drove Goro crazy. It would likely take less time to count how many moments he _hasn’t_ thought about Akira since they had met.

That’s it, he couldn’t just keep holding it. He had to hit him back. “No no, that smirk was because of the alteration of our plan I just devised, since your comment reminded me why I was going to kill you in the first place.” _Goro, what the fuck was that. You actually had a decent line last night, so what happened? That sucked,_ he muttered in his head with frustration.

He saw Akira raise his eyebrows. “You’re not too good at this, huh,” he giggled. “Maybe that’s why it’s my job.” Goro figured that was Akira’s way of trying to tell him to shut up because he was making him cringe. He silently vowed he would not try that again unless it miraculously came to him in the moment like the night before, and decided to change the topic.

“Whatever. Now, considering the panel is tomorrow, today we can just go to the festival and think it over, right?” He thought about spending the entire day with Akira as well, being shown around his school and simply enjoying each other’s presence. _Okay, maybe that’s a stretch. He likely has plans for the day anyway, so not the_ entire _day but hopefully a bit of time at least,_ Goro thought.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Akira said. “The others are expecting me to join up with them this morning to walk around, so maybe you could come and hang out with us before you, you know, blackmail us and make the rest of them hate you even more?”

Goro wanted to say yes, but he had a feeling that with the Phantom Thieves’ current attitude towards him he’d feel a little uncomfortable trying to get along with them as friends. He decided to just say “I’ll come find you and be social for a little while at some point, but I figured I should also take a little time alone to think of our next move. I will be the one who initiates the whole thing after all.”

Akira nodded. “Understandable.” He turned around and flipped some pancakes off the stove and onto his own plate. Goro hadn’t even noticed he had continued cooking them during their conversation.

 _I am such an idiot,_ he scolded. _As a detective I’m supposed to be observant, and I can practice those skills at literally any point in time. Yet the only thing I seem to be able to observe is Akira’s smoking hot face._ Every time his mind strayed to the gay thoughts, he lost his composed demeanour and became quite flustered, whether he showed it or not. And it only intensified when Akira walked around from his side of the bench and sat down next to him.

“It’s still quite early though,” he pointed out. “So while we have this time, we might as well keep those thoughts away until later and just relax, hm?” He sipped some of his own coffee, and he looked so perfect. Goro’s eyes were captivated, keeping them locked onto Akira’s gaze as he stared back, seeming so sweet and innocent hiding behind the mug lifted up to his face.

“Yeah,” Goro responded softly. “That would be nice.” Both boys looked down, slightly away from each other, and blushed.

* * *

Around three or so hours later Goro was changed, energised and ready to go. As Akira was still getting prepared, he waited in one of the booths downstairs. Goro hadn’t sat in one of these before since he always sat up next to the bar, but it was surprisingly comfortable. He barely got the chance to exist peacefully for a minute before a call came through on his phone. There were only a few people it could’ve been, and it definitely wasn’t going to be Akira. He lifted it out of his coat pocket.

_Masayoshi Shido._

Goro silently cursed to himself. _Fuck, why is he calling me?_ He wished it could’ve been Sae Niijima, or even her sister Makoto. He was never notified that Shido wanted an update at any point this week. It must be of great importance to the bastard.

Then a shiver went down Goro’s spine. _Did he somehow find out about last night’s discussion…?_ No, that’s impossible. If that were that the case he wouldn’t be calling him - he would’ve just sent someone to shoot him. The thought made Goro grit his teeth in anger. _Akira would receive the blame, and due to his probation sentence, his life would be ruined forever._

He quickly stepped outside Leblanc and answered the call with a sharp “Yes?!”

There might have been too much venom in his voice, and Shido picked up on it. Goro heard him sneer, but he didn’t question it and just let it pass.

“ _I needed to speak with you for a moment."_ It was said so nonchalantly, Goro was almost confused. Maybe he expected a more frustrated Shido due to the previous ideas he had, wrapping themselves around his mind. Either way, he needed to listen to what he had to say. “Go on…”

 _“I hope you’ve accepted the panel invitation for the Shujin Academy event tomorrow. Considering how slick you are, it would be an opportunity for investigation outside of allocated hours, which may provide information we are yet to have on your supposed predictions of the Phantom Thieves’ identities,”_ he explained.

Goro frowned. How did Shido come to know of his invitation to Shujin? He may have many connections throughout the city and perhaps even the entire country, but if he was able to acquire knowledge about student matters in a high school then even Goro had been underestimating the position of power he was sitting in. It was a surprisingly easy thing to do; corruption as deep as this is not exactly a situation most people would typically have much experience witnessing.

Unfortunately, in a previous discussion with him Goro had mentioned that he believes the majority of the Phantom Thieves were Shujin Academy students. Obviously he now wished he hadn’t said that, but at least he didn’t provide any names. Besides, if Shido actually wanted Goro to do this panel then he wouldn’t have any extra explaining asked of him, nor would he be put on the spot for sharing any findings. That would be hard, needing to make up a lot of it since Goro secretly betrayed him. With that in particular quickly in mind, he responded.

“As a matter of fact, I have already decided to go. As well as looking for info or evidence like you just suggested, I also believe this is the perfect time and place to kick off the beginning of the plan I outlined to you recently.”

 _“Good,”_ he huffed. _“I will be expecting more_ detail _to your side of this scheme soon. Incautious mistakes must be avoided.”_

Simply talking about anything with this man made Goro hate him even more than it used to now. That was enough for one day. “Yes, I understand,” Goro forced out the words. "I will bring more news later this week.” He hung up just like that. It felt pretty good showing some contempt to him.

But that last phrase stuck with him. _Incautious mistakes must be avoided._ It would be very difficult to pull something over Shido. If he didn’t see it himself, one of his lackeys or confidants would see it for him. But even with their current social status, the Phantom Thieves were a threat to his name, so Shido was gradually getting more desperate over time. The basis of an idea was forming within Goro's head, but it would take time before he even thought about bringing it to Akira.

 _Oh, Akira! He will likely be waiting._ As if they were mentally connected, Akira came downstairs in his perfect school uniform just as Goro strolled back into Leblanc. Damn he wanted to see that boy wear a proper suit. When he was spying on them in Madarame’s and Kaneshiro’s Palaces, he had caught many glances at Akira’s Phantom Thief outfit. It really was one fine collection of clothing on one fine looking guy that’s for sure. However, Goro hadn't been able to convince himself it's exactly what he wanted to see him in.

Shujin’s uniform had always looked good compared to some very questionable ones he’d seen out there. Many uniforms were just boring too, but Akira wore his like a model. Along with his incredible hair that was the perfect description of an organised mess, coupled with his glasses that helped bring out the silver colour in his irises, his face shone like the moonlight over the ocean at night - capable of being calm and peaceful, but also stormy and deadly…

Aaand once again, the gay thoughts had taken over. _Dammit, snap out of it! You have to tell him about what just happened._ Goro quickly pushed aside the desire to continue checking Akira out (for now) and cleared his throat. “Shido called me just then,” he said. Akira’s eyes widened a little.

“What for? What did he say?”

Goro explained the short exchange that just occurred, and Akira processed it in his head. After a few minutes of silent deliberation, he finally said “I think it’s been clear since we began that we need to do this in a similar fashion to Shido. If we want to defeat him, everything we do will need to be complex, thorough, and absolutely perfect as well. He is right about that. There’s no room for error, or the other side can take advantage of it.”

Goro nodded in agreement. “Yes we know that, but we need to think about how we’re going to go about doing that. We need to get the SIU's investigation team off your tail _and_ fool Shido at the same time before we can infiltrate his Palace and rise up against him with strength, or he could just eliminate us in the real world the moment he learns your identities and finds out I have no intention of siding with him. Tomorrow, my blackmail will begin the part where we can try and shake off the SIU, but we'll have to incorporate into it at the same time the part that takes Shido's concern off the Phantom Thieves... which we are yet to figure out."

He felt like he was just repeating information at this point, but as previously mentioned they did have to be as thorough as they can get. “A sneaky scheme has begun to build in my head, but I’ll tell you about that one when I flesh it out a bit more,” Goro continued. “For now, let’s get going. As I said, I’m going to stop by my apartment first since it was about twenty-four hours ago I was last there. Since I never returned yesterday, I have to take these files back," he said, holding up his briefcase. "You don’t have to wait for me.”

Akira almost looked annoyed that Goro was suggesting such a thing. “I wouldn’t just leave like that! I’ll come with you. It’s not like we’ll be that late.”

Truth be told, Goro was very happy that Akira disagreed with him. His apartment was only average, since he didn’t feel like he needed much more anyway. He didn’t make an insane amount as a detective and regular TV celebrity, but he was able to comfortably pay his rent, bills, and basic needs with plenty to spare for savings and indulging himself every now and then. It didn’t have the same wonderful atmosphere as Leblanc, but for some reason he did want Akira to come over and see it.

“Well, if you insist then I won’t stop you from coming along!” he said cheerfully. The regular jingle sounded at the door as somebody walked in. Goro turned around and saw Sakura-san had entered to open up shop for the day.

“Hm? Akechi-kun? Did you even leave last night?” He shifted and saw Akira, and his eyebrows raised. “Oh, Akira! Are you doing any better now?”

“I’m fine now, thanks Sojiro!” Akira said. Goro was glad to see that Sojiro cared a lot about Akira, watching his expression turn to relief at his reply. The sense of longing that came up into Goro’s heart quite often rose again with his jealousy for what Akira has. Ah, the jealousy that made him think he hated Akira. Goro could never truly hate him, but he was still envious of everything he had. Goro wished he could have Akira's kind of life. _No, stop thinking like that,_ he scolded himself. _That's a problem for later._ He pushed the emotions aside for the moment to be polite.

“My apologies, Boss. I was concerned for Akira as well, so I ended up staying the night.” He was expecting a stern reply at the very least, but Sakura-san just nodded.

“Hey, I don’t have a problem. I can tell you two have been close for a long time now, so you’re always welcome here," he said. "But you’re both going to the first day of the festival at Shujin today right? Better hurry up. Believe it or not, Futaba’s actually left already.”

Goro and Akira said goodbye, and Goro held door for Akira. “Well, shall we?” he tried to say flirtatiously. At least that came to him a lot better than a witty comeback. As he turned to follow Akira, out of the corner of his eye he could’ve sworn he saw Boss smirking.

* * *

**10/25 Afternoon**

**Ryuji**

Time really does fly, that’s all Ryuji could say. Everyone arrived at different times during the morning, but by lunchtime they had all found each other and were ready to eat. Well, everyone besides one person.

“Dude, where’s Akira at?” he asked the group. “Haven’t seen him yet today.” They all looked at each other, but nobody had an answer to give.

Futaba was carrying his bag, however, which started wriggling as Morgana poked his head out. Despite being a cat, he was actually able to portray facial expressions somehow. Ryuji had to admit that was pretty unique, but it didn’t help that Morgana looked anxious.

“Last night he started having some kind of mental breakdown, so the Chief took me and his bag home to Futaba for the night after he dropped me on the floor, and kinda, collapsed with his hands over his head. I’m still not sure what happened, but I’m really worried,” he said. Everyone exchanged a look.

“This is indeed quite concerning,” Yusuke said. “He didn’t even respond to the group chat yesterday evening when Makoto informed us that Akechi accepted the invitation.”

“Hold on a moment. You said he seemed to be having a mental breakdown, Mona-chan,” Haru pointed out. “So why would Boss leave him alone that night? That sounds rather… unsafe.”

Ann almost yelled back at him. “Yeah! Boss wouldn’t really just leave him like that, would he?”

Morgana shook his head. “No, he wasn’t alone,” he explained. “Akechi was at Leblanc that evening and-“

“Akechi!?” Ryuji gritted his teeth. The first time they had met him, Ryuji just thought he was a weird guy with weird hair. But after that interview they witnessed the next day, he _really_ did not like him. Everyone said he was amazing, talented, and super hot, but all Ryuji saw was an annoying, probably just attention-seeking teenage icon who girls grovel before. What made him so special?There was also the fact that he publicly and passionately opposed the Phantom Thieves. He was going down in popularity after their successes over Kaneshiro and Medjed, but now that Ryuji and the rest of the group figured out they were being framed for the death of Okumura, plus the fact that the public blames them too, he rocketed straight back up to the top of talk and internet. That pissed him off.

“For whatever reason, Akira wasn’t doin’ so good last night and you and Boss left him alone with that damn _Akechi!?”_ he snarled. “Why-“

“Hey guys! Sorry I’m late!” Everyone looked towards the entrance and saw Akira walking up to them, looking perfectly cheery and normal. That gave Ryuji a sense of relief, but he still wanted to know what happened yesterday. He didn’t trust that son of a bitch Akechi.

“Akira!” They all exclaimed and rushed up to meet him. He was suddenly overwhelmed with everyone’s voices at once, and Ryuji’s was definitely one of them. Being as loud as he was, Ryuji was able to drown out everyone else.

“Dude, are you okay? Morgana said you had a breakdown last night and you got stuck with Akechi! What happened?”

Akira chuckled a bit, which was honestly the kind of response Ryuji was expecting from the guy. Even in a situation regarding his own well-being he always tried his hardest to stay above negativity and lighten the situation at least a little. Ryuji really admired that about him.

“Don’t worry Ryuji, I’m fine. I was really just having a bad day,” he said. Ryuji wasn’t entirely convinced. _A bad day? Really? You don’t drop your cat and collapse clutching your head because of a stupid old bad day,_ he thought. Ryuji may not be the brightest, but even he was able to tell that the stress of their current situation was burdening Akira more than the others. Everything fell to him, and he was expected to deal with it. Sure he had everyone with him on this, but as the leader Akira felt he needed to take responsibility. He was so selfless, but Ryuji thought the guy deserved to catch a break.

“More importantly, as Ryuji said, you got stuck with that Akechi dork,” Futaba butted in. “What’s up with that? Did he question you? Threaten you? Spillllll!”

“No, none of that,” Akira said and rolled his eyes. “I’m actually quite close with him, remember? I provided his contact information to ask him to the panel…”

Futaba held up her finger. "Hush." That was all she said. Ryuji rolled his eyes. That was a very Futaba thing to do. She pulled Akira’s bag off her shoulder and handed it back. “Also here’s the Mona-bag. Don’t go dropping it again now, it _is_ the Mona-bag for a reason!” she said, waving the finger she shushed him with.

Makoto cleared her throat. “Well at least you’re alright,” she began. “But if Akechi was with you for a while last night, I assume that means he told you that he’s accepted our invitation, correct?”

Akira nodded, so Makoto continued by saying “I’ve already written up a list of questions to ask him. They’re very broad, followed by some straightforward ones I can improvise with, made so that he can’t weave his way out of the answers we want. We should be able to subtly extract some information about where the police and investigation team are currently at, as well as an explanation behind his public opinion of the Phantom Thieves being criminals but believing we didn’t kill Okumura.”

As much as Ryuji didn’t like Akechi, he had to admit that the fact that Akechi was against the idea of them murdering Okumura was a relief. Ryuji was confused since the guy was defending them from a crime when accusing them of crimes was all he’d been doing before that, but at least things weren’t hopeless. The guy’s popularity truly did have a lot of influence.

Ann broke the conversation by stepping through the rough circle they were making and walking towards the corridor. “Come on, let’s go to our class’s stand. We kinda spent most of our budget on the maid costumes, so the food will be pretty shit. But it’ll likely be quite empty, so we can talk more freely there!” she said cheerfully.

Ryuji groaned. “Your class’s stand, huh? I saw the octopus earlier and was gonna try avoiding the place…”

* * *

After criticising everything Ann and Akira’s stall had to offer, they were left waiting for their ‘fresh takoyaki’ and a discussion about Akechi already on the table. Ryuji would’ve obviously rathered a walk around the school with the guys to check out some cute chicks, but sighed and forced his way through more Akechi stuff again.

He wasn’t sure Akira would want to do that anyway. Ryuji didn’t know what his deal was, but he always acted so bleak and uninterested whenever he brought up girls, even bored or nervous. He distinctly remembered that night with him, Ann, and Mishima in Hawaii when Ann asked him what his type of girl was. He just got up and said he needed some fresh air for a moment, then left the room. He hoped at some point Akira would tell him what his avoidance of sharing his opinion on that topic was all about, but it didn't really matter either way. His best friend was still his best friend.

 _Shit Ryuji, this isn’t the time to start moping about your friends, grow up!_ Trying to catch up, he quickly re-listened to the snippets of the conversation he heard over his thoughts. _Ugh, Futaba just said something about Akechi and I missed it. Just, say something._ “You know, did that Akechi guy agree to show up here ‘cause he believes we didn’t kill anybody…?” Didn’t really make a lot of sense, but that’s what his quick thinking ended up with.

“Or, he may simply love large gatherings,” Yusuke replied. Ryuji was about to argue at Yusuke’s effort to be funny (at least that’s what it seemed like he was trying to do) but Ann actually agreed with him.

“Oh, true. He didn’t seem like he minded being pampered by the media at all.”

Morgana started complaining. “We plan on stealing intel, but we might fall into another trap. I’m gonna be bummed if that happens…”

Again, Ryuji thought of responding, but a very bored sounding Akira just sighed and cut off anyone else.

“Is the takoyaki done yet?” he said plainly, not really seeming like he was asking the question to be answered seriously. Makoto said something about Akira being carefree, but Ryuji wasn’t listening. He was suddenly trying to figure it out himself.

Why was Akira acting like this? They were in a very serious situation that unfortunately all depended on Akechi to get out of. So why was he acting like it didn’t matter? Like he's almost stopped caring? It was as if Akira were completely convinced that they would be fine anyway. This was the opposite of his behaviour at any other point recently. He was stressed and deep in thought before. Now he was anything but that, ever since his breakdown last night…

A thought found its way into Ryuji’s mind, and he didn’t like it. _Could Akechi have done something to him yesterday?_ If that really did happen, Ryuji was already ready to fucking throw Akechi to the ground anyway. He’d gladly do it, no hesitation.

Unravelling this whole idea, he had completely missed the fact that the takoyaki had been placed on the table. _About time anyway,_ he thought. Taking one look at it, all Ryuji could really do was sigh again. “Well, it’s not like I was expecting crispy takoyaki at a school festival or anything.” Then he noticed the bright red one sitting on top of the others. “Wait… dude, don’t tell me the ‘Russian’ part means…”

The group had a lighthearted discussion over who’s going to go for the red one, and it made Ryuji feel a whole lot better inside. This is what they were all friends for. Not the Phantom Thieves, not for any reason other than for themselves. Sure, being the Phantom Thieves was an awesome thing to do, and it did bring them together in the first place, but above all they were still just teens who wanted to have fun. For the past week or so, Ryuji had forgotten what that felt like. He turned to Akira and tried to rile him up with some minor banter. “Do YOU wanna go for the red one?”

Akira smiled that sly, cocky smile that made him look fit to be the leader of the Phantom Thieves that he was. He stretched his neck and cracked his back. “I’ll take it…”

“Ooh, impressive as always!” Ann laughed. Before anyone could do anything though, Ryuji heard a voice from the entrance of the room.

“Oh, everyone’s all here!” Mr Pretentious Irritation himself, Goro Akechi started walking towards their table. Ryuji seemed to be the only one who didn’t think to question exactly why he was there; he just clamped his jaw and held his annoyance in his mouth. _Who the heck does this guy think he is, just strolling up to us like we’re all buddy-buddy?!_

Akira’s face lit up more, which Ryuji also still didn’t understand. Everyone else looked quite confused and a bit shocked, perhaps worried that their number one worry to watch out for might have been around while they were discussing Phantom Thief issues, and their plan of action.

“Th-The panel isn’t until tomorrow though…” Makoto managed to compose herself and stutter something to Akechi at least. All he did was turn his body a little and casually respond “I came to check out the venue. I can’t make any mistakes since a lot of people will be present.”

Futaba looked away with distaste. “Someone’s eager,” she said with a huff. Ryuji couldn’t help but have even more respect for her. He ended up only half listening after that, but he heard Akechi complain about people recognising and harassing him. “That’s ‘cause you were sloppy…” he muttered under his breath.

Akechi said something else he didn’t bother listening to, but when he followed it up with a smile in Akira’s direction, Ryuji caught Akira returning him with a wink. That pissed him off a little. _What is Akira’s deal with being so nice to this jerk? I don’t understand how he gets along with him!_ He was about to ask Akira more pressingly what he was doing, but then the best thing he’d seen all week happened.

Akechi walked over to the takoyaki, picked up the red one and said, “I’m going to have one of these.” It was pretty rude, but that was cancelled out by Ryuji’s desperate need to see what happens next. Haru gasped. “The special one!”

“Let’s just call this my performance fee,” he said and put it into his mouth. Ann was about to protest. “But-“

“It’s fine!” Ryuji quickly cut her off with his anticipation. He watched as Akechi began to say something, but quickly doubled over in shock with a gag.

“Eating it in one bite is a bad idea…” Ann muttered.

“Ngh… My throat! Urgh! This is…!” he coughed. Ryuji was loving every second of this asshole getting a bit of karma, but Akira shot up out of his seat with very visible concern on his face.

“Are you okay?! Do you need water?! No not water, um, milk! Or yoghurt! Those help with spice burns! There’s gotta be a stall somewhere here…”

Ryuji was even more baffled as to why his friend was going out of his own way to help him so much and be kind to him. Sure, Akira was kind to just about anyone, but why HIM? Ryuji's confusion started yelling in frustration to him. _The guy is part of the investigation team that is currently up against us! He’s heavily involved in the police, making him our MOST DANGEROUS ENEMY!_

Akechi had been stuttering up a set of words that were pretty hard to decipher with his burning throat, but Ryuji’s thoughts were interrupted by Akira rushing after his direction when Akechi seemed to be trying to say he’ll see everyone tomorrow, walking off.

“I-I’m gonna go make sure he’s alright!” he said quickly. “I’ll text the group chat later!” Then he ran off through the same exit Akechi disappeared through.

Nobody else knew what to say for a moment. Which do they try to figure out first: why Akechi was even here? Or why Akira made it look like being with him and helping him was a higher priority of his than the mission tomorrow? Yusuke eventually piped up.

“…Did he truly come to simply check the venue? And why was Akira wrapped up so intently with his appearance at this place?” Then he shook his head with disappointment in himself. “This isn’t good. I keep suspecting every little thing…” he said.

“I know what you mean. I’m doing the same too,” Makoto agreed. “I need to do my best tomorrow. We need to somehow get him to be our source of intel…” She straightened up and brushed her hair aside. “I’m gonna pull this off no matter what!”

Ryuji was impressed with her confidence. It almost made him feel a little better. But what was he supposed to think? Their leader didn’t seem that bothered and was spending all his time trying to please Akechi. They’ve been backed into a corner for a while now, since the beginning of the Okumura incident, and have been playing into the hands of a larger individual or organisation. They _needed_ this intel, whatever Akechi has, if anything useful. The situation was pretty scary to be honest. Ryuji could only think one general overarching thing: _Jeez, this is effin nuts!_

They had to put their faith in Makoto to conduct this interview. Futaba decided to be Futaba, sitting over in the corner. She seemed deep in thought, as if analysing this entire scene. “That Akechi guy,” she thought out loud. “When he got here, didn’t he say that everyone’s all here?” She took a pause to let that sink in a little. “'Everyone'?”

The gang all exchanged a nervous look with each other. Even Ryuji realised that she was making a point. It was an odd thing to think about from a larger perspective, but the way Akechi had said it when he arrived definitely made the comment seem a bit out of place.

“You’re… you’re just imaginin’ things,” he said uncertainly. He sure as hell hoped with all his soul he was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also side note, kind of unimportant but, if you see any spelling errors or anything just keep in mind I'm from the continent of Oceania not North America, so I don't use American spelling.  
> E.g. Colour = Color  
> Utilise = Utilize  
> Anyway, that doesn't really matter. Hopefully this was good enough!


	4. School Festival: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took ages, sorry. It is kinda long like the last one, but I've been trying to do a million things at once lately. I don't know if this turned out that well compared to previous chapters, as it might seem a bit rushed. Hopefully not, but at least I got something out there. Enjoy!

**10/25 Afternoon**

**Akira**

It didn’t take Akira very long to find the detective, trying to keep himself composed and not stand out in the crowd. Attention from everybody in this state would not turn out well for him, considering how quickly things get around on the internet. Akira sighed to himself as he made his way to catch up with Goro. _Why did he take the obviously red hot one? Was he trying to look cool in front of us? Whatever it was, it wasn’t smart._ Naturally, his initial reaction when Goro started dying from the spice was concern, but now Akira’s thoughts of scolding him disguised themselves amongst that concern. As hot (ha) as Goro could be, this was an issue.

He decided that one thing they’ll have to add to the agenda is working on Goro’s group social skills. It seemed that he had no problem any other way. One-on-one interaction seemed easy for him. Most of the time he has the upper hand in an argument and his discussions were full of intriguing ideas. He has no problem during interviews either - being filmed or talking in front of thousands of people, usually both at the same time, looked like it came naturally to him. But whenever Akira saw him just trying to have a conversation with multiple people from the Phantom Thieves, he appears to lose his way. He gets more awkward and doesn’t show the same confidence that tells you he does know exactly what to do. Definitely something he’d need to practice somehow.

As Akira saw him about to walk downstairs, he quickly dashed up and grabbed Goro’s wrist, pulling him a little further down the hall.

“Keep your face down and hold on a moment,” Akira told him. Goro did just that, and Akira slid open a few classroom doors along the hall to see if they were empty. Most of them had club meetings, teachers talking or some students inside hiding from the crowd. Akira guessed a few people would be trying to skip their shifts at their classroom stalls.

Of course the very last one he checked down that corridor was the empty one he was looking for. He yanked Goro by the wrist one more time and shut the door as they both entered. Akira locked the doors on both ends of the room and turned to face Goro, who was now sitting on a desk and coughing his lungs up.

“I’ll just get to the point. Why did you do that?” he asked.

“All I was t-trying to do was have a little *cough* friendly banter and c-c-conversation with you all,” Goro choked.

Akira put his hand on his hip and raised an eyebrow. “Really? And your way of doing that is to walk up and say, ‘I’m going to have one of these’?”

“W-Well it sounded right at the t-time!” he spluttered. "But I would b-better appreciate it if you could help me s-sort this out!" His insides were still burning as displayed by how tightly his hands were clenching the side of the desk, his strangled voice, and his heavy breathing, likely in an ultimately futile attempt to cool his airways. Akira rolled his eyes and let out a single, sad huff of sympathy.

“Just sit tight for a few minutes. I’ll go look for something to get you,” Akira said. “You can hold on that long, right?”

Goro coughed again but shakily nodded. “I-I’ll be f-fine. Go!”

As Akira left the room and heard Goro lock it from the other side, he rolled his eyes again. _I’m really in love with this guy, huh,_ he thought with his usual internal sarcasm. Goro had many great qualities, but if there was ever to be a time where he acts like a bumbling fool, he does it really well. For as long as Akira had known him though, everything the detective had to offer was to his liking.

There was one thing that slightly bothered Akira though. He was positive Goro had a darker, more angry side that likely doesn’t care as much as the one he was currently seeing. It had to exist, or Goro never would’ve been able to brainwash himself into serving Shido through inflicting psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns. Akira thought he might’ve seen just a small glimpse of it last night when he got overexcited and tested Akechi’s patience, causing him to raise his voice and snap at Akira.

Despite the fact that there used to be a chance of Goro not coming to his senses and ending up actually wanting to kill Akira, he was positive Goro wouldn’t harm him. Akira was willing to entrust his life to Goro were a situation like that to arise, but he hoped Goro would at some point show him the other side he doesn’t know of. Akira had to admit, he was slightly afraid – both of him and for him.

On the other hand, Goro always told him about their unique, interesting bond and that he’d never opened up to anyone or told anyone anything the way he did with Akira. That definitely made him feel special. Just earlier he had been to Goro’s apartment for the first time, and he secretly hoped of visiting often. While rushing around the school, observing stalls, and keeping an eye out for something to help Goro, Akira’s thoughts uncontrollably drifted back to earlier…

* * *

**10/25 Morning**

Kichijoji. Of course Goro’s apartment block was in Kichijoji. He seemed to really like this district, and it was always where he was waiting if they arranged to meet up at night. It was rather easy to navigate compared to places like Shibuya and Shinjuku as well. Sometimes, especially if he was tired, Akira still got lost in the walkway trying to find the Ginza trainline.

It wasn’t a very long walk from the station they got off at to get to the place either. The place was pretty close to Inokashira Park, which was probably visible from most of the balconies jutting out from people’s rooms. Within a few minutes, the two of them were standing in the elevator and heading up to the sixth floor, making casual conversation. Akira hadn’t even been inside Goro’s own apartment yet, but the building itself was a rather relaxing atmosphere. From the outside it wasn’t much to look at – just a typical, semi-modern building. It was almost out of place considering the area it was in.

When they made their way to the door and Goro unlocked it, Akira was a little surprised. It was a nice space, though not overly. It was comforting, almost as much as Leblanc. The front door opened directly into a large room, essentially a kitchen, dining, and living room rolled together. The kitchen was off to the left, a bench against the left wall with another bench opposite it, leaving about a meter and a half between them to walk through. A table was at the farthest end of the room, opposite to the doorway they were standing in. In that opposite wall on the far side was a glass sliding door that opened onto a balcony with a grey, horizontal balustrade. It looked rather odd in contrast to the vibrant white all of the walls were painted, lighting up the room more and making it look bigger. A couch sat to their right, which left a walk space in line with the front door to access all areas of the room. The couch was about three meters away from the wall it was facing, which was the wall directly to the right of the front door. A low TV cabinet sat against it with a TV resting on top of it.

The floor was wooden, but a fluffy, grey rug stretched out beneath the couch and TV. On the far right wall, past the sitting area was a door, which Akira assumed was the bedroom and a bathroom. Overall, it was a very western style apartment, which he wasn’t expecting to see in a place like Kichijoji. Akira trailed behind Goro as he walked in slowly, admiring his place. _Is he really able to afford this huge apartment? What would his income be…_ he wondered.

As if reading his mind, Goro responded. “It’s a lot less expensive than it looks, you know. I guess I am also quite lucky, however. Believe it or not, the landlord is apparently a fan of mine, so she's offering my rent for less. That’s definitely not allowed, but she makes enough money anyway. I also make sure I don’t constantly buy unnecessary things, and I take care to use my electricity, water, and all that at a minimum to reduce my bills. Well, most of the time.”

Akira was impressed for sure. Goro wasn’t much older than him, but he was already making a living for himself while still in his last year of school. While he had some unfortunate circumstances as a child, and is still trying to get himself out of what he was wrapped up in even now, he lived alone and payed for everything comfortably – which was a luxury that a lot of people older than him or with a good life and family situation weren’t able to achieve.

“I have to admit, this is amazing,” Akira said. “Despite living in a busy district, it feels as if you could hide from the world here, like at Leblanc. It’s so open and spacious, but at the same time it’s enclosed and cosy. I don’t know how else to describe it,” he explained in awe.

Goro smiled a little. “Thank you,” he said. “You can make yourself at home for a while! I just need to change my clothes.” He grabbed at his sleeve. “I’ve worn these since yesterday morning, so I believe it’s definitely time for a fresh lot.”

Akira nodded and let him go ahead, while he checked out a few of the finer details in the room. Goro was right about not buying anything unnecessary – the walls were completely blank. The pure white paint was the only thing to see, no cabinets or bookcases, no artworks or decorations. Akira could make an excessive amount of money from the Metaverse, and Goro obviously didn’t exploit that like he did. _Perhaps I could help him and make the place even more home-like…_ he thought to himself.

As he started to go through some interior design options in his head, Goro emerged from his room in his same old school uniform, but it was easy to tell that he had changed. Although it wasn’t that noticeable without this one to compare, the previous uniform he was just wearing definitely had some minor creases and wrinkles in it.

“Well now, shall we get going?” he said cheerfully. Akira almost lost himself in that adorable face, but managed to stay focused. With a nod, he kept in mind what he wanted to do to the apartment and would run it by Goro after giving it more thought.

_Along with him, it would be more fun than usual to go around buying things._

_Buying things…_

* * *

**10/25 Afternoon**

Buying! That yanked Akira back into reality. Goro was burning alive and he needed to get something to help him. That was stupid. There was no time to waste reminiscing on a memory from barely a few hours ago that really wasn’t very important right now. An annoying wave of realisation suddenly came over him.

 _Ugh! There are vending machines at school! Why am I looking for stuff in stalls?_ He thought about where in the building he currently was, then dashed down to the nearest one to him.

As he made his way into one of the small courtyard areas on the ground level, running rather noisily as a matter of fact, he interrupted a conversation he didn’t notice was occurring right beside him while buying drinks, until he heard his name.

“…method of self-reflection that relies on speaking with another person so as to sort through one’s own emotions… Hm? Akira?”

He jumped and turned his head to see two figures sitting on the bench, having an informal meal and a chat. “Oh! Yusuke! And, uh Dr. Maruki? What- umm, never mind. I-“!

“Are you okay, Kurusu-kun?” Maruki asked. “You look panicked…” Akira had already been taking way too long, so his desperation must have made its way onto his expression. _Guess I can’t blame myself though. Dr. Maruki would’ve known either way._

“Uhh, yeah. I’m alright, Doc. I, uhh…” _Dammit, I’m usually a better liar than this. Think, Akira, come on!_

Yusuke raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? You barged into this place in a state of dire concern. Are you still tending to Ake-“?

_CLUNK_

“Yes! I mean no, not exactly but I came to get some milk!”

_CLUNK_

“And a soda!”

_CLUNK_

“And, uhh… whatever this is.”

“You require three different beverages?” Yusuke questioned. Akira would’ve thought it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for a person like Yusuke to buy a combination like this when he had the money, but apparently he wasn’t convinced. Akira could only try and bullshit his way out.

“Yep, that’s right! You’ve gotta do what you gotta do, yes?”

Yusuke hesitated for a moment, but gave up on it and nodded. “I suppose that’s understandable. I was having a talk with Ann not too long ago by the way, and I have a question. Are you… no, never mind, I fully recognise it now. Have a good afternoon then, Akira!”

Yusuke’s tone of confusion and doubt had evaporated, and he displayed his natural expression of satisfaction, which Akira found a little odd, but he didn’t have time to question it. Furthermore, this was Yusuke after all. Odd was his thing.

Maruki looked just as baffled, but just agreed. “Well, I’ve been counseling your friend Kitagawa-kun here, so I suppose we’ll get back to that. See you around, Kurusu-kun!”

As Akira raced back around the corner, he was sure he just heard Yusuke chuckle in his eccentric way, and mumble something to Dr. Maruki. Akira obviously couldn’t hear the whole thing, but he definitely heard ‘Akechi’.

* * *

“Gah! Took you long enough,” the detective grumbled. That was the first thing he said to Akira since the guy had walked back in. Goro had immediately grabbed the drinks and started gulping them all down before any greeting or acknowledgement. Akira couldn’t blame him though, and he had definitely taken way too long. If he was thinking straight, it might not have been more than a minute if he was hurrying. But unfortunately, as his mind kept demonstrating to him when trying to do just about anything recently, he was only capable of thinking gay.

“Sorry, I tried to be as quick as I could,” Akira apologised. He tried his best to look sincere, which wasn’t hard when it was genuinely how he felt. Akira had been masking his stress and how overwhelmed he was in front of his friends, in an attempt to be the leader they needed him to be. That was exhausting though, and he was sure it would’ve started taking a larger toll on his mental health if he weren’t able to relax a little more with Goro now. Above every other reason he liked being with Goro, he was really relieved he had someone he could talk to about the bigger picture that Goro revealed to him, which the Phantom Thieves don’t know about just yet. It took some weight off of his shoulders, like he’d hoped.

 _I really do need Goro to think this through,_ he thought. _I don’t know where I’d be right now if we hadn’t had our discussion the other night. Thank goodness we can be somewhat in control of the situation._

Before he even knew it, Akechi had finished the last drink that Akira bought. Akira watched as he panted, catching his breath back after holding it in order to down them all quickly. He faced Akira and finally managed to lighten up a bit. “Th-Thank you for your assistance in that awful predicament,” he said. “In the future I really should take a little more care in my actions. Although, they do say it's painful when going in and painful when coming out, so I'm not looking forward to testing that theory either.”

Akira smiled and said, “I think what we really need to do is work on your ability to interact casually in a group.” He stepped closer and hoisted himself up onto the desk, sitting next to and very close to Goro, on the right side of him. _Flirting time._

Akira grabbed the soon to be embarrassed Akechi’s right hand from being clasped together with the other on the boy’s kneecap, and brought it in front of himself to hold with both of his own hands. Goro had removed his gloves since they weren’t a very helpful thing to have on when burning alive, so Akira really was holding his hands. What a perfect opportunity.

“You’re still very hot,” Akira remarked. That was all he felt needed to be said. This time Akira was definitely not at his best though, and he felt like he had just entered the running for an award in cringe. Goro didn’t get flustered or start stammering as he had hoped though. Instead, he did something unexpected that Akira was not ready for.

Goro smirked, then reached over with his left hand and grasped the other side of Akira’s hands, which were currently occupied by holding Goro’s. “My, it seems you’ve been affected by the heat as well. I wonder…”

Akira was suddenly the one stuck. His entire operation had been flipped on him, just like that. Before Goro could continue saying anything though, they were interrupted by the sound of a lock being fiddled with. Both boys froze, their panic and surprise rendering them unable to think of trying to move. The door slid open.

Standing in the doorway with her eyes wide was Ms Kawakami. Her shocked expression only hesitated a moment before transitioning to her stern gaze, an eyebrow raised in an unimpressed fashion, as if demanding an explanation.

Even though Kawakami and Akira shared a good bond after he helped her out with her debt situation, it likely wasn’t a good look that she had opened a locked classroom to find him and Goro sitting closely and holding hands while they stared at the door in gay panic.

 _Oh fuck,_ Akira cursed to himself.

Kawakami cleared her throat. “Am I interrupting something here?”

This was the moment their minds chose to realise exactly what they were doing, and what the teacher had walked in to see. They quickly let go and stood up lightning fast.

“M-Ms Kawakami!” Akira stammered. “I- umm, we-“!

“Save it,” she dismissed. “I don’t really care. Even considering how well I’ve gotten to know you Kurusu, a school classroom is really not the place to be expressing relationships, okay? You can just-“

“Hey wait a moment! It’s not like that! We just…” Akira trailed off, struggling to find the words. He didn’t know if he should explain exactly what was going on here, or try and make up some believable excuse to fit what she saw. If that was possible at all.

Kawakami almost looked like she was about to start teasing them. “Really?” she said. “Because I could’ve sworn I walked in here and saw-“

“I beg your pardon, but if this area is currently off limits then how come you are also here? Not to mention all of the other classrooms full of people,” Goro interjected.

Akira wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. _It’s only Kawakami so we won’t get in trouble, but thank goodness for his quick thinking. That was awkward,_ he thought.

The teacher got a little defensive. “It’s not off limits, and I only came here to make a phone call! All I was telling you to do was… oh whatever, don’t worry. Look, I don’t care! Okay? I’m just a little surprised to see you, _the_ Goro Akechi, with Kurusu-kun here, that’s all. I suppose you were invited to the panel, but that’s supposed to be tomorrow…”

She was giving a subtle glance between the two of them that Akira clearly picked up as slight concern over the detective’s presence, since everyone knows he’s the enemy of the Phantom Thieves. Akira huffed. Almost all the people he was close with hated Akechi. It was understandable given they were on Akira’s side with the Phantom Thieves, but it still saddened him. Goro deserved to catch a break from running into these people at least.

“Well, you said you wanted to make a phone call, right Kawakami? So we’ll leave you be to do that,” Akira said. He gestured to Goro and started walking towards the door. Kawakami always meant well, but she was definitely very judgemental even if she didn’t intend to be. Akira felt that judgement stab him in the back.

“Well, okay then. I’ll see you next time we have homeroom Kurusu-kun, if not before,” she said. “And uh, good luck with the panel tomorrow Akechi-kun.”

Akira politely waved goodbye, then swiftly made his exit with Goro not far behind him. Akira shook his head in embarrassment, feeling the awkwardness fill him to the brim. _That was a total disaster,_ he muttered in his head with disappointment. _Hopefully we can all forget that happened and I can try again with something else later…_

Goro walked up beside him and said, “I don’t think I’ve been in a situation that uncomfortable for a long time.” Despite the subject matter of his statement, he said it in a rather upbeat tone. He seemed to have recovered from his spice incident now, and quite a bit faster than Akira had expected. He wasn’t a very attractive sight while suffering like that either, so that was another reason Akira was glad to see him okay.

“You’re not helping, you know,” Akira said. He watched as Goro continued trying to talk to him at the same time as hiding the majority of his face from people in the hallways. He kept turning his head in different directions and therefore made it impossible for Akira to comprehend anything he was saying, so it wasn’t working well at all. Akira just rolled his eyes. Today Goro had been a mess. A hot mess, for sure. But be that as it may, still a mess.

When they reached an empty stairwell, he was finally able to speak to Akira properly. “Here’s a thought. Last night, you allowed me to stay over since we had a very long, busy evening and you in particular were in a terrible headspace, needing some company. Well I’m sure you wouldn’t argue that today has been a very long day, so would you mind if I returned the favour?”

Akira raised his eyebrows excitedly. “Oh? Are you asking me to stay over at your place? Sure, I’d be happy to! However, we are stopping by Leblanc first. I would actually like to be prepared,” he chuckled.

Tomorrow was the day when all the risk taking began, so Akira knew they should use some of this time to ensure there would be no fuck-ups. But he was genuinely looking forward to spending the night at Akechi’s apartment. If it was going to be anything like the previous night at Leblanc, it was already an enjoyable evening as well. For all they were both being forced to go through, some company and time to relax was the very least they deserved.

* * *

**10/26 Morning**

**Makoto**

The entire week, Makoto had been extremely stressed out. The current position of the Phantom Thieves in society was concerning enough, but now there was even more pressure on her to complete her job of interviewing Akechi at the panel later. It was do or die – if she couldn’t get him to say anything useful to them then they’d be stuck where they are, and the investigation team could swoop in and catch them. How, she didn’t know. With what evidence to prove they did anything she didn’t know either. But with her sister in charge, a way would be found.

As Makoto paced up and down her living room, she tried to run through some possible outcomes to calm herself a little, but only negativity flooded her thoughts. _What if he directly denies any questions relating to the Phantom Thieves? Could he know who we are? Would he call in the police while we’re all present?_

She halted her stepping pattern at that one. No, that was too bold, right? It was always difficult to tell how Akechi would try and do something. Would he take it slow, gradually gaining on his goals? Or would he defy convention and take big, confident leaps to attain what he needs swiftly? Makoto realised she was letting it get to her too much, and her hands were shaking. She took a deep breath and tried talking to herself.

“Okay, calm down Makoto. Nothing illogical will happen. Face the facts. There’s nothing to prove we did anything yet… right?” She heard her phone buzz over on the table, and saw a call coming through as she made her way over to it.

_Haru Okumura._

Makoto was glad to talk to Haru. To think, after only having spoken to her just after the trip to Hawaii due to Morgana running off, an amazing friendship had bloomed between them. She honestly regretted not trying to interact with her previously, having seen her around school multiple times.

Haru’s gentle demeanour, assertive positivity, and semi-formal way of speaking added to a relaxing presence that Makoto always appreciated. Her fascination with gardening and love for plants and life really intrigued Makoto, and made spending time with her more desirable. In the Metaverse, she had also seen that Haru really enjoyed… defeating shadows. To a rather large extent. Everything Makoto saw about her was very unique, in a way she hadn’t experienced in a person before.

She was rather inexperienced in this field and never thought about anything like this before this year, but Makoto knew her admiration was more than just looking up to Haru and enjoying their friendship.

 _Is this what people refer to as ‘catching feelings’? W-Wow…_ she thought. Before the call rang out, Makoto accepted the call and brought her phone to her ear.

“Hi Haru!” she said, feeling more relaxed already. “What’s going on?”

Haru’s higher-pitched voice greeted her back. _“Good morning, Mako-chan!”_ she said cheerfully. _“I’m sorry to call you when you’re probably doing some last-minute preparations for the panel later today. I just wanted to let you know that Futaba-chan and I will be there a little early in order to try and get some good seats. We want to be able to watch and listen to the audience as well in case there’s anything important to notice.”_

“That's some good thinking I guess,” Makoto approved. “I doubt anything we need will come from anybody in the audience, but it’s better to have eyes and ears everywhere. Just in case.”

_“Mm-hm! The others will be watching from the balcony to your left, keeping a broader eye on things and being able to discuss what Akechi-kun says in relation to the Phantom Thieves without a huge risk of being overheard.”_

Makoto was almost tempted to say something negative, showing her own mistrust in her ability to interview Akechi well. She brushed that aside. _No, I must assure myself. Don’t let it get to me._

“It’s definitely a good idea to keep Ryuji over there then,” she said jokingly. She blushed as Haru giggled in response over the phone. It was quite cute.

_“He does get a little loud sometimes, doesn’t he. I’d better hang up for now so I can be ready to leave soon, and pick up Futaba-chan along the way. Good luck! And don’t worry, I have faith in you!”_

Makoto liked the way she said, ‘ _I_ have faith in you’. She needed everyone’s support, but Haru’s in particular was empowering. She felt absolutely determined to do this right now.

“Okay, I’ll see you later. I’ll message the group chat if there are any problems.” She hung up, and stood up straight with another deep breath. “Alright, no more worrying,” she spoke to herself. “The questions are written right there. Make up and ask a follow up question if it appears to be leading onto something. Everything will be fine.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t exactly work out the way she wanted it to.

* * *

**10/26 Afternoon**

On stage, Makoto was a lot more confident than she thought she would be. No shaking, stuttering or doubt was currently present. Normally, as student council president, none of those things ever were present. This was sort of a special case at a particular time though, so Makoto was doing very well already. She was dead set on doing this right. The gym was full. She could see Haru and Futaba waiting attentively in their spots in the crowd, the rest of them up on the balcony. Akechi was ready. She was ready. It was time to start.

“Well then, we will now begin today’s panel,” she began. “Our guest of honour is Goro Akechi.”

He smiled that charming, TV personality smile and said “I feel kind of bad, considering how many people have gathered. I’m sure you all would’ve been happier to have a singer or a mascot appear, wouldn’t you say?”

If this was what he considered humour, Makoto wasn’t a fan of it. It got some fangirl laughs out of the audience, but she quickly continued, eager to extract some intel.

“We’d appreciate it if you could tell us about your experiences with the notorious Phantom Thieves. It’d be wonderful if you could let us hear more about your actual investigative process.”

First question, broad and simple. Depending on his response she could narrow it down and shape it to fit the information it sounds as if she could get from it. The detective leaned a bit closer to the microphone and responded, saying “I’m not used to being the one interrogated… so please go easy on me.”

Makoto gritted her teeth behind her closed lips. _He’s stalling. Why does he need to stall? He could answer this in a multitude of ways that may even truly have nothing to do with the question..._ she thought. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ann and Yusuke mutter something. If there was anything to worry about, they would take care of it. All she had to do, and all she could do, was focus on _her_ job.

It was time to cut to the point. Or at least, a point. “As much as you’re allowed to say, would you tell us how far along your investigation is with them?”

“Getting right to the point, I see,” he remarked. That’s exactly what Makoto was thinking. Makoto had to keep reminding herself she doesn’t usually deal with people as observant and intelligent as Akechi. If there was something to pick up, he would pick it up. She kept that in mind for how she phrased improvised questions later, as he continued.

“Well, if it’s as much as I’m allowed to say, then everything on TV and the internet is all of it. We have no leads yet, and the methods behind their crimes are still unclear.”

That one was shut down pretty fast. At least they still have no leads or evidence for anything, but Makoto was really hoping something new would come to light. She decided to try and get on his nerves a little to disguise the fact that she was pressing further.

“I see… Even with this country’s power, arresting them is proving to be difficult… is that the case?”

A flicker of irritation passed his face, but Makoto could tell it was not because of the insult she just threw at the investigation team. He had picked up on her tactic to hide another answer push, and didn’t seem to have an option but to give a straightforward response.

“I wouldn’t phrase it that way… but well, something like that,” he said.

 _Score. It’s very small, but he’s at least confirmed they’re having a lot of trouble even trying to investigate anything,_ Makoto noted. “Thank you for answering that question,” she said. That was all she could bring out of that topic. Now it was time for an explanation on another very important matter. And it seemed like something Akechi had a somewhat passionate personal opinion on, so surely he would answer in a bit of detail.

“By the way, it seems you’ve denied a correlation between the Phantom Thieves and the murders. Why the sudden change? Until now, haven’t you upheld your stance that the Phantom Thieves are dangerous? How are you so positive that they haven’t committed murder?”

Akechi smiled in a way that was almost a light chuckle. “Aren’t you a little too comfortable interrogating people? Why, it’s as if you’re a prosecutor.”

 _There, he’s doing it again. Why does he need to stall and divert the topic? Is he struggling to answer my question, afraid of revealing too much? Maybe he knows what I’m looking for… I have to make it harder._ The audience had laughed at Akechi’s comment while Makoto was thinking about that, and she needed to give a response.

“Ah, excuse me. This is something I’ve been personally interested in, so I couldn’t help it…” It was better to just be blunt. “But won’t you tell us? What reason is there that you’d claim their innocence when you previously stated they were unjust?”

Makoto glanced at the audience briefly and saw Haru looking quite surprised and awestruck. That made her feel so proud of herself. If that face gave her anything other than butterflies, it told her that this was going swimmingly. Somehow, Makoto had the upper hand over Akechi in this whole thing too. Hopefully she could keep this going and avoid fucking anything up…

Akechi grew a little more serious, and Makoto realised quickly that he had decided to just be blunt now as well. He was done avoiding things and dragging it out.

“Every person whose heart they changed have truly been criminals, including Okumura. Why, then, was he the only one who needed to be killed?”

That answer was so simple and basic it shocked Makoto. How come no one else has argued this? It didn’t take a Goro Akechi IQ to come to such an obvious conclusion. Frankly, Makoto didn’t understand why she didn’t think of this herself. It doesn’t make sense how literally everyone has jumped to the conclusion that the Phantom Thieves were murderers all along… who or what could possibly be influencing the general public to believe it? She had to keep Akechi talking.

“Why is that?” she asked simply.

“I must admit… I couldn’t deduce a reason. That’s why I believe that case should be thought of as if a different party is responsible.” He said it a bit disappointingly, and Makoto couldn’t tell if it was because he had hoped to find a connection, or if he shared her own thought process about how society could possibly be so obtuse as not understand this.

“And if– this is all hypothetical, mind you,” he continued. “If the Phantom Thieves are the ones I know of, I can’t possibly imagine they would kill anyone.”

That sentence pummelled Makoto like a bullet to the chest. _What…?! What does he… he couldn’t know, right?_ Her eyes darted to the audience and balcony above, and her friends had the same alarmed expressions. Luckily, Makoto was able to keep herself composed with a neutral face. She had to get to the bottom of this while she could. Things just took a giant leap in the other direction.

“Your comment just now… does this mean the police have already identified who they are?”

“Oh, no. The police haven’t gotten that far yet,” Akechi responded. “But I have my own conclusions about the true identities of the Phantom Thieves.”

Makoto knew a comment like that was coming, but she still almost gasped. _Shit, no, no! It’s clear he's found us out, but if the SIU is as far behind as he said, there wouldn’t be any evidence! What is he trying to do?!_ As her thoughts overwhelmed her, she had taken too long in trying to think of something or come up with an answer for him.

“You’re not going to ask me who they are?” Akechi asked innocently. Makoto felt so frustrated with herself. He definitely knows it’s them, and he turned the tables and backed her into a corner. _Come on! Think, Makoto, think! You’re only going to make it worse!_

“…It may have repercussions on the investigation. Are you sure you can share that with us?”

_Phew, very good save. Just keep going like that. Work my way around it…_

“It’s only my personal opinion, so announcing that here wouldn’t pose a problem,” he responded plainly, as if totally prepared for Makoto’s perfect answer. “However, there is a possibility that everyone present will hear the truth before the police or media.”

Exactly as he said that, Makoto could almost feel the air movement from people yanking out their phones to film this. She clenched her jaw. Was he trying to be cocky? That pissed her off. To hell with the waiting game. She wanted to hear from this smartass’s mouth exactly what he was implying, being aware of her undercover identity.

“That’s quite the confidence you have,” she sneered. “If you’re so certain, then very well. I’d like to ask you then: who do you think the Phantom Thieves are, Akechi-san?”

Well, there was no going back now. Was he really going to do it? Makoto saw a trace of hesitation on his face, like he wasn’t sure whatever he was trying to do would work, or like he wasn’t ready. Maybe it was just her imagination, because he continued on straight after.

“They’re people you all know quite well. The identity of the Phantom Thieves are–“

There was a ring. A cell phone ring. It was coming from Akechi’s direction.

And it had cut him off.

She silently let out the sigh she didn’t know she was holding, as the detective pulled out his phone.

“Oh, it’s mine. I apologise for the interruption, but I can’t turn off my phone due to my job. Would you mind if I step away for about… ten minutes or so?”

Especially after what she went through just then, Makoto could absolutely use a short break. She would be able to have a quick discussion with the others and get some input on if and how she should change what she does next.

“I’m terribly sorry, everyone, but we’ll be taking a break. “We’ll resume the panel in ten minutes.”

“Please don’t troll me online for this interruption, okay?” Akechi grinned. The crowd started to laugh at his remark, and Makoto just rolled her eyes. He bowed politely to excuse himself and walked over to Makoto. “Is there a room I may use?” he asked.

Ever since Kamoshida had removed himself from the school thanks to Akira, Ryuji, Ann and Morgana as the debut of the Phantom Thieves, the PE office was almost always empty due to that particular part of the school not having redeveloped yet. The school was having bigger issues than finding a new teacher to hire as head of physical education. She suggested that room to Akechi.

He started to walk away, but then he stopped. “…I want you to come too. There’s a matter I want to discuss. Your friends from yesterday are here, aren’t they? Can you bring them too, if that’s alright?”

Makoto saw where this was going. _No… he doesn’t need to take a call at all! This was one big ploy to get our attention and confront us formally..._

She turned and glared at him. “Did you set this up…?”

“We only have ten minutes you know,” he replied. Makoto knew they couldn’t afford not to follow. She walked off stage with him and got out her phone to text the group, hoping for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a few weeks I should have a lot more time available to write. And quite frankly, to think. The next update will likely take a while as well, but I am writing whenever I can! I also spend ages editing because I'm trying to make it as good quality as I can too, so hopefully you enjoyed the chapter!


	5. Steadily Starting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I exist! Problem is: Shitload of Stuff to Do + [Procrastination](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26614843) = Very Late Chapters. I've got even more coming up soon so I have no idea when the next update will be but I managed to get out this one. Enjoy!

**10/26 Afternoon**

**Morgana**

That was a load of bullshit. Akechi had just performed for them what they had imagined to be a worst-case scenario. Morgana could’ve sworn he had voiced the idea that the detective accepted the invitation only to expose them, or put them in a really bad position – and he had done exactly that. Now the Phantom Thieves had no choice but to comply with Akechi’s request of helping investigate the truth behind the Okumura incident, followed by ceasing their Metaverse activities.

Morgana stared down in frustration. _In a way this was what we wanted to do, but not on his terms!_ he thought to himself. _And who’s to say he won’t just turn us in afterwards anyway?!_

There was no way he wouldn’t. Morgana had just picked up on it after Akechi pretended he heard Morgana speak for the first time: he was a good actor, but most of that recount of discovering the Metaverse last month was definitely had to be fake as well. Morgana couldn’t believe he hadn’t remembered what happened at the TV station until now.

As his internal discussion unfolded in his head, he noticed that Akira was still waiting there as the others continued to exit the room. He just stood there, staring at the door, and looking very nervous. Morgana perked up. _Akira must already know too! We need to think of a plan around Akechi’s intentions, whatever they are._

“Hey, they’re going?” Morgana said as a prompt. Akira glanced back and shook his head, but Morgana spoke again before Akira could say anything. Morgana cut to the chase.

“You realised it too, then. It was our conversation about pancakes, right? There’s no way he could’ve reacted like that if he hadn’t heard me.” When Akira responded with an expression of surprise, Morgana hesitated. _Did Akira not know after all?_ Him and Akechi were definitely very close. Did Akira refuse to believe that the detective could be scheming against him?

He turned his head away from Morgana and stared at the door again. “He’s up to something,” was all he said. Morgana nodded, thankful he wouldn’t have to explain everything he was thinking. Maybe it would be good to just remind Akira exactly what he was on about.

“Probably. It was your social studies trip. We met him in the hallway of that TV station. There’s no way that this is the first time he’s heard my voice… this whole deal feels sketchy.”

Akira looked like he was a bit lost – as if in the wrong place doing the wrong thing. Morgana didn’t know for sure why now he was suddenly so concerned, when yesterday he didn’t seem to have a care in the world at one of the most stressful moments the group had had throughout the entire recent incident. Right now was a good reason to be worried, sure, but Akira’s behaviour seemed so oddly placed, like there was something else going on.

“He’s suspicious,” Akira said. That was it. _What’s his deal all of a sudden?_ Morgana thought. _It’s like he’s purposefully trying not to say much._ What else could Morgana even tell him given the way Akira was making such an important discussion, or at least beginning of a discussion, so one-sided?

“Yeah. It’s impossible not to think that of him. Okay… let’s get everyone on the same page right away,” he said.

Akira nodded. “We’ll have a meeting, uh, sometime soon. I promise. We definitely need to discuss and deal with this. Let’s go back.”

He said it so quickly. Not quite panicked, but Morgana could tell he didn’t want to speak on this any further right now, for whatever reason. Wary was probably the right word. Morgana just sighed and jumped down to Akira’s bag.

* * *

“Let’s have a big round of applause for today’s guest, Goro Akechi,” Makoto announced from the stage.

They all watched from the balcony as Akechi waved pleasantly and walked off. His face was definitely one of a person who has just achieved the best possible outcome for his plans, clearly in a multitude of ways.

Haru looked down worriedly. “Was that really our best course of action?” she asked. Ann turned away from the stage to face her, and shared her demeanour.

“He totally used Makoto’s suggestion against us,” she whined.

“Indeed,” Yusuke muttered in reply. “We intended to get intel out of him, but to think it would play out like this.”

Morgana zoned out for a second, swarmed by all the same negative thoughts being repeated by everybody over and over. _There’s gotta be something we can do to get around him. There has to be. Akira knows him really well, he’d surely know of even the smallest thing we can do to outsmart him…_

Ryuji yelling out his frustration snapped Morgana back to reality. “Dammit, what’re we gonna do!?”

“Calm down, Ryuji,” Morgana almost snapped. All Ryuji did was yell back the exact same thing he said before. This boy really got on Morgana’s nerves. He loved Ryuji, he truly did – Morgana couldn’t be more grateful to have him as a friend and a very strong teammate in the Metaverse. But the guy’s temper was short. He was hard to get under control and could be way, way too loud.

They always made fun of each other, even though it went a little too far at one point, and that situation was mainly on himself, Morgana had realised. He overreacted, and it was uncalled for, achieving nothing but stressing out the whole team. Ryuji had arrived early to a meeting not too long after that incident, and quickly took that opportunity to apologise to him. It was embarrassing, yes, but absolutely worth fully reconciling their friendship. He and that lovable himbo had almost immediately started riling each other up again, so all was good.

Yusuke had stepped in and calmed the situation. “What’s done is done. We’ll have to cool our heads and think more on this.” At least Yusuke was sensible, level and in control. Morgana definitely thought the guy deserved more credit for how he contributed, whether it be in friendship and support or to the activities of the Phantom Thieves. “We must make up our minds by the time he contacts us again.”

Morgana hummed lowly in a thoughtfully serious manner. “We need to give this a lot of thought…”

* * *

**10/26 Evening**

**Goro**

It worked. Thank goodness it actually worked. The entire afternoon was so perfectly flawless, it was almost suspicious. Goro was rather speechless and exhausted from all the pressure of trying to make everything work so well.

The hardest part was probably weaving his way around Makoto Niijima. She was so well prepared for that interview – all of her questions were structured magnificently. Goro was forced to answer in a way that actually gave her in some form an answer she wanted, and it was so difficult to think on the spot of something that the audience won’t be able to take much away from.

Akira had timed his call splendidly as well, interrupting the interview just as they had arranged to do the night before. The blackmail actually worked too. Nobody called him out on any flaws that might've been in the idea, so Goro was able to maintain his position of power over the encounter that he had established by calling everyone there in the first place.

Then he could end the whole panel right there, just because he asked to. Everyone in the audience thought he had received an important work call and had to leave. It was that simple. Goro actually laughed in delight at how well the entire operation went. Sure, it was only the start, but a start they had been stressing over the success rate for so much.

Goro grabbed the bag he brought and sneaked off to the changerooms as soon as he left the stage. If everyone thought he had rushed off to do a task as a detective then he wouldn’t be able to just walk around the school now. He was having trouble doing that even yesterday.

Although now that Goro had changed into some casual clothes, the only problem was his face. His famous, well-known, attention-drawing face. Little did Goro know, it wouldn’t be much of a problem once he ran into Akira in the hallway.

Akira had to catch Goro’s attention since he was still trying to look down at the ground and make his way through the school, desperately clutching onto the hope that it would continue to work. Akira ran up to Goro and guided him back into the stairwell.

“I can’t believe everything went according to plan!” Akira said. The relieved sigh that followed seemed like he had been holding it in for the entire afternoon. “I’m still so worried about the rest of the plan we devised though. And that concern was hard to control – it definitely showed, and Morgana thinks something is up.”

Goro peered behind Akira and saw his bag was rather… deflated. “Speaking of, where is Morgana? You were carrying him around before weren’t you?”

“I sent him home with Futaba,” Akira said. “Told him I needed some time to think. He’s still suspicious as to why I wasn’t home last night either.”

“You didn’t tell him? Well, I guess that’s fair since he also distrusts me. Especially now. Does he know I’m involved?” Goro asked.

“With the sleepover last night? No. But he’s sort of latching onto the idea that you might be the mental shutdown perpetrator. He remembered your pancakes slip-up.”

Goro thought about that. At first it sent a shockwave of panic through him – a natural reaction, still not accustomed yet to the idea that the knowledge of Goro’s own Metaverse activities wasn't exactly exclusive to him and Shido anymore. But he thought it through. _That’s alright… Akira was going to let them know it was me anyway to actually put this plan into motion._

Goro recalled the base idea that him and Akira had started to create the night before…

* * *

**10/25 Evening**

It was a quiet night. Goro couldn’t have been more content. Nightfall was like a reward to him in a way; the opportunity to unwind, the calmness of a dim, indoor environment, the pure sight of murky darkness dotted with brilliant lights, all being just a few of the comforting vibes Goro could settle into. And now Akira was here as well. Literally perfect.

They had shoved the couch back just a bit and placed two futons in front of the TV so they could sleep there together while also leaving a lot of space to stretch out. Goro had the lights on in the kitchen while they sat there and chatted together, so it was a nice little atmosphere that wasn’t too bright. Akira eventually brought up the topic they had been avoiding, partly on purpose.

“So, umm, this plan. I’ve been thinking… you know how in Leblanc in the other night you had mentioned that once you had blackmailed us, you intended to catch me in the Metaverse by bringing the police in there?”

Goro just groaned. “I get it, that’s not a good idea, but–“

“Let’s do that.”

 _…Did that come through correctly? I must be deluded,_ he thought.

He blinked. “I’m sorry?”

Akira’s expression didn’t waver. “I think we should do it. Listen, this is going to sound crazy, stupid, and outrageously risky…”

“It already is,” Goro interrupted, rolling his eyes.

“…But we kind of need to keep making up this plan as we go along, ending with me being caught.”

Goro lost every capability his brain had to decipher this. He was baffled. Did Akira genuinely have an idea that could work? Was that it? Was he making a joke?

_Never mind. I’m not deluded – he is._

Akira continued before Goro could. “We have to play two sides of this. Any plan executed by us is going to have to be played while keeping the others in the dark. But they’ll be part of the team, so it’ll have to pass as something else for them.”

“Yes, but I don’t quite see where you’re going with this yet.”

“So, because they don’t know, I’ll be coming up with a plan along with them as well. To get around you. We’ll have to adapt _our_ plan to fit with the one the Phantom Thieves make.”

Goro had several questions, but he had a feeling that they could all be answered with one. And he may not like that answer. “What do you mean ‘get around me’? he began.

Akira cut all the bullshit and just laid it out in front of him. “We need to reveal to them that you caused the mental shutdowns.”

No logical understanding of Akira’s thought process came to Goro at all. All he did was stare.

 _…I stand corrected. I now have MORE questions._ “Would you PLEASE explain what the FUCK that will do to help us at this point in time?!”

“We need to trick Shido, right? So we can fly under the radar and change his heart? Well, if we convince the others you’re going to betray us, just like you were originally ordered to do, we can construct an incredibly complicated, but effective way to fake my death, which is what Shido wanted you to do - kill me. The sheer complexity of it will be too much for him to actually figure it out, especially without investigating it, so he'll believe it happened. With the leader of the Phantom Thieves ‘gone’ he would think we’re out of the picture, and we’d be able to quickly take him down!”

It was… good? Incredibly fucking stupid of them to even consider such a difficult feat with so many obstacles, red flags and secrets in the way. But it was kind of a start. “Tell me then, Akira. What is this incredibly complicated idea?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and then ran his other hand through his hair. Goro literally almost forgot where he was watching that. He wanted to slap himself. _How. Many. Times! We have important shit to do and I am STILL being thirsty! Why can’t I just give it a rest for a moment?!_

“I… haven’t gotten that far. That’s why I was saying we need to keep making it up and changing it as we go along – to match with the plan I make with the Phantom Thieves after they find out you’re the elusive black mask.”

Goro couldn’t believe this. “So you’ve made a half-assed scene in your head where you tell everyone I’m the bad guy, get caught in the Palace and have me shoot you without actually shooting you, and expect to just miraculously come up with all the details as we go along?”

Akira started to protest but cut himself off, making that shocked sort of noise with his voice that happens when someone’s bad argument gets countered and they hit a wall.

“I– okay when you phrase it that way you make it sound really, really bad, but it’s not _that_ bad!”

A long exhale escaped from Goro’s mouth. _This is the boy I’m in love with. Really. He’s usually the intelligent, observant one, but now he’s taking a wild leap with almost certain failure guaranteed? I just can’t figure him out…_

“You are wanting to make a very, very bold but rash decision, Kurusu. I trust you, but this is insane.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Goro hated that. Normally he did have a better idea. Normally he absolutely _would_ have a better idea. He specialised in better ideas. He hated the fact that he was going to have to succumb to this cliché bullshit, because this time he didn’t. And this entire fucking situation was hardly normal. Far from it.

He kind of wanted to yell. It wouldn’t help him – all it would do is piss off whoever is living above him, and below him, and around him. Not that he cared, but it wasn’t like him to do such a thing anyway. _I can’t let the frustration keep getting to me,_ Goro told himself.

He just let it out calmly, with something like a cross between a sigh and a grunt. A rather aggressive sigh. “Fine… if we truly have no better option, I guess this is what we’ll have to do. But it goes into action _immediately,_ understand? As soon as tomorrow is done, you need to meet with them all _this week_ – tell them of your ‘suspicions’ about me and we’ll confirm it for them somehow… a phone call between me and Shido perhaps, if you could get Futaba Sakura to hack my phone. We can’t afford to waste any time, especially with an overtly stupid plan such as this one.”

He may have been a bit aggressive, but it was necessary. Akira understood though, and nodded his head. At least Goro was working with someone who understood what was going on and knew what they would have to do. Even if it was the worst possible thing they could do, the only idea that they could make work for their complicated goals. Even so, he was taking it seriously. He didn’t even try to flirt or anything like he does with everyone at any opportunity. Akira Kurusu was completely aware of their situation, and Goro was grateful for that.

Goro could also admit, once again, that the guy was full of surprises. One of the major things that he loved about Akira was how unpredictable and intriguing he really was. Goro could never have anticipated what happened next.

Akira leaned forward and hugged him. Straight up just wrapped his arms around Goro and rested his dark-haired head on Goro’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We _can_ and _will_ do this. I don’t really like it either, but we have to. So we will. I promise.”

Akira wasn’t trying to flirt or be funny. Goro could sense it in the way he spoke, his expression just now, and how he gingerly tried to just console himself and Goro. All Akira was trying to do was be helpful and wholesome. And it was working.

Goro had no idea how to react. He imagined his face blushing completely pink. He relaxed into it and folded his own arms around Akira as well, burying his face between the boy’s neck and collarbone. He smelled just like the wonderful Leblanc cafe, except with Akira’s own scent through it – in the same way Akira made coffee in Sojiro Sakura’s style. You could tell it was him. And it was the most comforting thing ever.

 _This… this is so nice._ Goro wanted to cry. He had no idea how touch-starved he was until Akira embraced him like this. He couldn’t even remember how long it had been since the last time someone hugged him… it must have been from his mother, before she died years ago. If any remaining intent to betray Akira after all for Goro's own good had lingered in the back of his mind, it had just vanished without a trace. Goro was certain those thoughts no longer existed anyway. He needed him.

Goro just wanted to be with Akira even more. He didn’t even recall how long they had stayed like that before they decided to sleep.

* * *

**10/26 Evening**

“Goro? You alright?”

Hearing Akira’s voice made him blink. He genuinely went back over the entire conversation in his head – boy did he have no trouble at all remembering _that_ night. Very curious how one can relive a memory in a few seconds. But Goro went back to the matter at hand.

“Yes I’m fine, I was just lost in thought. Morgana caught on, you were saying… that’s fine anyway if we’re sticking to what we said we were going to do. I still think this is ridiculously foolish of us.”

Akira grabbed the back of his neck in one of those strange but adorable mannerisms he often had a habit of performing when he was speaking. “Yeah, yeah we both said that. But that’s why it’s probably the only thing that could work,” he said. “A solid plan could be accounted for by a conspiracy like Shido’s, considering how widespread they are. Just another reason for us to contemplate.”

Goro groaned. “Like we don’t have enough to contemplate. Let’s leave that for now and focus on what we need to do next. Have you scheduled a meeting with your friends?”

Akira tried to decide how to say it, which to Goro instantly meant no. He said “I mean, I said we were going to have a meeting. To Morgana. But I haven’t set a date or time yet. Usually we don’t do that anyway, just call meetings whenever we want and everyone shows up to–“

“ _The post-festival party is about to begin in the gymnasium. Please join us, everybody!”_

The school PA system crackled to life, cutting off Akira mid-sentence. Akira turned and smiled.

_Oh god he’s gonna flirt again._

He cleared his throat. “We have some time to kill. I’m not doing anything else for the rest of the day, and I’m sure you aren’t either, right? Shall we go?”

_Is he a demon? How is anyone supposed to resist that enticing look?_

“Surely you have some time to spare for hanging out together again?” Akira said, holding out his hand for Goro to take while smirking.

 _Clearly nobody can resist it. And I, for one, certainly don’t want to,_ Goro decided.

He was about to take Akira’s hand when he realised: he was Goro Akechi. He tilted his head to the side a little and said, “I would like to. But as much as I would, people are going to recognise me there, as you should know. This is a school full of teenagers who just watched an interview of me on their own grounds – I don’t want to turn the party into a shitshow because of people bombarding me with the whole autograph and selfie requesting ordeal that always occurs. Not to mention there'll be many demands for explanations on my answers during the panel… particularly about who the Phantom Thieves are and why I have returned after supposedly rushing off for an urgent task.”

Akira thought for about a second. And considering the answer he came up with so quickly, Goro was certain the nasty creature had been waiting for a moment exactly like this. Akira’s eyes glittered with excitement. “Well, good thing I happen to have a spare pair of glasses on me today…”

Gravity seemed to have a larger effect all of a sudden. “Oh no…”

It didn’t take long for Goro to end up in the changerooms again, having been dragged there forcefully by Akira. Staring into the mirror. Through a pair of fake glasses. With his hair ruffled up.

“Not again,” he muttered. “This is humiliating.” Akira, standing just behind him, stifled a giggle. “It worked last time didn’t it? At the café? When we–“

“Yes, I remember the entire situation _very clearly._ Thank you for your prompts,” he interrupted rather passive-aggressively.

Akira just couldn’t seem to hold himself together very well. “Then it should work this time too. It’ll be as flawless as that hair you’re rocking!”

Goro’s hair was currently looking very similar to Akira’s. And he had to admit, Akira’s hair was in fact pretty flawless. At least the way he saw it.

As they re-entered the hallway it didn’t take long for Goro to almost have a heart attack from being seen and possibly recognised. What a disaster that would be if someone found out who he was while he appeared like this. But the person coming down the corridor could’ve been a lot worse, at least.

“Kurusu-senpai! Are you going to go to the post-festival party?” It was only Yoshizawa, cheerfully stepping up to the two of them. As her gaze moved over into Goro’s direction she had to squint a bit. _She's going to know. She's seen me up close so many times..._

“Hello. Have we met before?” she asked. Then her eyes widened in surprise as she apparently figured it out. “Wait, Akechi-san?! Why are you-”

“Shh!” Akira frantically held up his hands to stop her from saying anything else. “There’s a reason we've made him look like this!”

Yoshizawa quickly understood and nodded her head once. “Ah, I see. Trying to keep under the radar? Why?”

Akira quickly explained how Goro announced he had an important work call in order to get him out of the interview, and they were afraid he’d be found. She raised her eyebrows. “Sorry, I never made it to the panel, but you lied to get out of it? …Actually I won’t ask. I know personally that interviews can get rather stressful since my gymnastics club has been on the receiving end of them quite a few times, but I’ve never tried to get out of one. Oh well, you’ve done way more than me anyway. To each their own.”

 _Yoshizawa has become quite the talker since her sister’s passing_ , Goro noticed. She used to be much quieter when not around her. Very much the opposite reaction to what Goro expected – those two were more often than not attached to each other, from what he’d heard about them. He would’ve thought she would still be in a state of grief even now. Her father could chat for ages as well, so perhaps she took after him.

“Anyways, the post-festival party!” Yoshizawa said as she finally got back on track. “I would assume you’re both going then, yes? Mind if I join you?”

Goro still didn’t want to go – there wouldn’t be many other people not wearing a Shujin Academy uniform either, so he was worried he would stand out. When they got there though it seemed fine, and they didn’t stay for that long anyway. They'd watched Yoshizawa dance after being asked by the dance club, grabbing the attention of everyone. It was quite mesmerising, Goro had to admit.

Yoshizawa was very innocent, and easily overexcited nowadays, but Goro hardly talked to her much until after the incident with her sister. She had changed, but it wasn’t bad. She had become a lot like her sister, in fact. As much as Goro liked to spend time with Akira, he didn’t mind having her around as well. They were an interesting group, the three of them, and Goro thought that they should maybe spend more time together.

They left the party much earlier than it finished, to Goro’s relief. Yoshizawa had to depart due to her dad calling her home, so that left an exhausted Akira and a more exhausted Goro left behind, each with little willpower to do anything else.

Goro looked at Akira as he stared in the direction of the gym, pondering... something. Who even knows what. His whole appearance and personality constantly leaked mystery, which never failed to draw in Goro. Who was a detective, fittingly – it was perfect. _What’s a detective without a mystery to solve?_

This case was a difficult one though. He didn’t want to solve it. He didn’t want to remove that unique allure that Akira gave off. He couldn’t explain it in any other way than he simply wanted the boy, so, so badly.

 _Why is he hot even when he’s zoning out? Is he actually always this attractive? Or am I just incredibly gay? I can only imagine what he’s thinking,_ Goro wondered. _And even then I’d probably be wrong…_

He didn’t know how long they had been standing there, but Akira eventually turned to face him. “Sorry, I was trying to think about what we should do, but I guess I’m too slow to process that for the rest of the day. Should we go home?” he asked.

“I think that would be wise,” Goro agreed. “And I have enjoyed our sleepovers, but we probably shouldn’t do another one of those tonight. I would imagine it’ll appear suspicious to your friends if we were to stay over with one another for a third night in a row.”

Akira chuckled. “Yeah, we’ll go our separate ways for tonight. If you have any breakthroughs in the middle of the night, let me know,” he said.

 _If only…_ Goro thought. _Hopefully at some point it’ll come easier, right?_ He didn’t always like being a pessimist, but that felt unrealistic. Then again, much of what they were doing was going to involve a lot of wishful thinking.

* * *

**Morgana**

It wasn’t that late, but Morgana already decided that it would be better to just stay with Futaba again tonight. _Was Akira even going to come back home this time?_ Morgana had no way of knowing. He could be with Akechi, but he suspected it wouldn’t be out of the question that he was out late doing who even knows what.

Futaba’s room wasn’t that bad anyway. It wasn’t as delightfully drab as Leblanc’s attic, but it had become much more well-kept since they had changed her heart and cured her depression. They were still getting Futaba used to being more social instead of being shut in her room, but she was progressing a lot.

Morgana jumped up and sat on her bed, watching as she launched herself into her chair and logged onto something Morgana didn’t understand by just watching the screen. _Is she playing a videogame? Or maybe she’s hacking a website,_ he pondered. He sighed audibly to try and get her attention, before remembering it takes much more than that to tear her focus away from a screen.

“Hey, Futaba?”

“Mm?”

“What are you doing?”

She pushed her glasses up her nose a little. “Going through all these windows I left open. Why?”

Morgana blinked with confusion. “Umm, there is one window in your room, and it’s not on your computer. And, uh, it’s closed.”

Futaba’s head fell onto the desk in front of her with a thump. “Ugh, never mind kitty.”

This kind of conversation was clearly not working with her. Morgana decided to try and talk to her a little more seriously, not knowing who the best person would be to speak with about it.

“Uh, Futaba? Do you have any ideas as to why Akira is acting so distant all of a sudden? I feel like I’m being rejected...”

Futaba just shrugged, not taking her eyes off the monitor. “It be like that sometimes.”

Morgana’s exasperation rocketed up. “Can you at least try and talk to me instead of making everything so one-sided? First Akira, and now you! What is going on?!”

A few seconds passed, then Futaba sighed and finally swung her chair around to face him. “You don’t have to yell, Mona. I’m just sorting through some files and stuff, calm down. As for Akira, yeah he’s being a bit weird, but it’s not your fault,” she said. “He’s been twice as stressed as the rest of us lately, so he’s probably just trying to loosen up a little. He’s a social teenager, let him be. He’ll be back to normal in a few days." With that, she swung herself back around to her computer.

“I guess I am just overthinking things,” Morgana muttered with a few slow breaths to calm down. But he was only put on alert again via instinct when Futaba uttered her surprise all of a sudden.

“Huh? The fuck?!”

Morgana instantly leaped off the bed and up onto the desk to join her. “What is it? What’s wrong?!”

“My bugs are down!” she exclaimed. _Her what? What bugs…_ Morgana thought.

“What does that even mean? Do you mean bugs, or some kinda tech stuff?”

She started furiously tapping at her keyboard. “The listening devices I placed around Leblanc ages ago have been switched offline! Manually!”

Morgana forgotten Futaba had put those in there – that was how she had learned they were Phantom Thieves, and overheard their conversations before they had changed her heart. But she had kept them there and left them on? “Why do you still have them?” he asked.

“Well, it was kind of a mix between FOMO and simple curiosity, and the fact that I couldn’t be bothered turning them off,” she explained. “But they’ve been offline for _two whole days_ now! The last audio I have recorded was from the evening of October 24th.”

“Hmm. That _is_ a little strange,” Morgana agreed. “Maybe they just ran out of batteries?”

Futaba leaned back in her chair with enough force to push herself away from the desk a little. “It’s a possibility, but unlikely. Could’ve been bad ones, but they’re supposed to be long-lasting – a year I’m pretty sure it was.”

Morgana looked down. _The 24 th, two days ago…? That’s when Akechi was there! _“Futaba, you said they were disabled manually. If it wasn’t a battery problem, does that mean–“

“Someone physically switched them all off themselves,” she confirmed. “But that’s impossible. They’re completely hidden! I haven’t told anybody where they are, not even Akira, who’s living there.” Futaba pushed on the floor with her feet to move her chair back into position and resumed her typing and clicking. “I’ve gotta find out what has happened.”

An idea sprung to Morgana, perking up his ears. “What was the last thing that was recorded, just before they were switched off?”

Futaba grabbed her mouse and clicked a few buttons, then put her hands to her headphones and turned a dial on one side with her thumb, which Morgana assumed was volume. She was silent for a moment, then said one word.

“Footsteps.”

Cocking his head to one side, Morgana felt like a detective himself now. “Just that? No other noises, or voices, or anything?” he asked.

“Listen,” Futaba said, flicking a switch on a small speaker next to one of her monitors. Even with Morgana’s sharp cat hearing, which he possessed despite not being a cat, he heard nothing but the footsteps Futaba mentioned and some slight white noise. Dead end so far.

 _Come on, think, Morgana, think! That night…_ Morgana could see on one of the monitors there was a squiggly green line going through it. He may not be very knowledgeable about technology, but he knew enough to know that it represented sound waves. “Futaba, go back through the audio until you find what was happening before that. That was the night Akira had that mental breakdown, and Akechi was there.”

Futaba’s eyes widened in realisation. “Of course! Why didn’t I think to check this before?! You’re a big help, kitty!” she said, scratching him behind the ear. Morgana struggled to hold in a giggle. It was nice to feel appreciated. He watched as Futaba went back and found a good moment to begin. “Here, this is where Akira walked in, it seems,” she told him, and swapped the audio output back to the speaker.

> _The TV plays in the background._
> 
> _Door opens._
> 
> _Akechi: Welcome home!_

“Yeah, there he is. Impossible to mistake Detective Akechi’s charming, fake-ass TV voice,” Futaba said, and pretended to gag.

> _Akira: Honey, I’m home!_

Futaba cringed as she paused the audio. “Ugh, Akira is _such_ a corny flirt!”

Morgana laughed. “You didn’t know that already? He flirts with just about everyone.”

“Well yeah, but this instance was particularly cringe.”

“Come on Futaba, let’s get to the bottom of this. Play it,” Morgana said and rolled his eyes.

> _Akechi: You’re back awfully late._

A pause.

> _Akechi: How has business been for you lately?_
> 
> _Sojiro: Take a look around. Is the Niijima lady doing well?_

Futaba leaned back again. “This is boring. Is this really what happened that night?” she asked.

“You know it is, just be patient! You really think your tech stuff is gonna make up sounds?”

“Shut.”

> _Person: That politician’s really honourable. I like how quick he says he’s gonna do everything._

A pause.

> _Person: *clapping* Man, this guy is admirable._

Futaba stopped it again. “Who was that, talking just there? And who’s he talking about?”

Morgana blinked. “Hm? Oh, that was just a customer sitting in the corner. There was some election candidate on TV or something, politics and stuff. I don’t think it matters.”

Futaba looked at the screen, then back at Morgana. “We shouldn’t rule out anything as irrelevant just yet. Everything that happens should be analysed carefully,” she decided.

“Futaba… no, never mind, I’ll come back to it after we finish listening.”

> _A thump sounds, on the ground._

> _Morgana: Mrow?!_
> 
> _Akira: *Breathing heavily and erratically*_

> _A chair scrapes on the floor._

> _Akechi: Akira? What’s wrong!?_
> 
> _Sojiro: Hey kid, are you alright?_
> 
> _Akira: I- I’m fine._
> 
> _Quick, heavy footsteps running. They go up the stairs and disappear, out of range_

Futaba winced. “That thump wasn’t Akira, that sounded like a bag. Which, judging from your yelp, had you in it. Are you alright?” she asked with concern.

Morgana didn’t even remember what that felt like. The whole situation felt like it happened so long ago. “If it hurt, I don’t think I felt it much. I was more worried about Akira. It was out of nowhere.”

> _Sojiro: Err, I think perhaps it’s time we close for the night._

> _Footsteps, door opens and closes._

> _Sojiro: You two are good friends from what I’ve seen, right? Could you, you know… go check on him? I’ll take Morgana back home for the night. Akira may want to be alone later to get some good rest._

> _Door opens and closes. Footsteps disappear up the stairs and out of range._

“That’s really it? Huh, not much to go off of,” Futaba complained.

Morgana cleared his throat. “What I was going to say was, are we still even looking at what happened to your ‘bugs’? Or are we trying to spy on Akira now?”

Futaba shrugged her shoulders. “Works either way. One answer will probably lead to the other one I would assume. We find out for sure what happened to the tech, we know exactly what happened that night. And vice versa.”

“But which side should we try and look at?” he asked. “Maybe go forward until just before the footsteps begin. See if there are any clues as to where they came from.”

Morgana watched as Futaba did just that. He thought to himself: _If someone truly was walking around and disabling them, does that mean either Akira or Akechi did it? They were the only ones there…_

Futaba played the audio, but there was nothing. Morgana originally didn’t think of it as much more than another wall they’ve hit, but Futaba suddenly leaned forward in confusion. “Holy shit, there’s no way…”

“What?”

She replayed it through her headphones, then turned and said, “I didn’t hear… it just– it comes out of nowhere!” Futaba stood up and started pacing up and down her room. “No stepping down the stairs, no opening of the door. Which means nobody came in and switched them off, as unlikely as that was anyway, and neither Akira nor Akechi could’ve done it because there’s no way anyone can make it down those creaky-ass stairs without making a sound. No matter how quiet you’re trying to be. It just doesn’t make sense…”

“Let’s check them next time we’re alone in Leblanc. We’ll see if they just ran out of batteries, since that’s the most likely case,” Morgana suggested.

“That doesn’t explain those footsteps though!” Futaba retorted.

Morgana hated it when things were slightly off ten times more than when they were conspicuously off. Not only could it be creepier, but it generally made things so much harder to figure out. It could also mean there was something hidden beneath the surface, tucked away from their reach.

There were so many things right now that weren’t making sense, both obvious and not. And Morgana was afraid of it all because he didn’t know why.


End file.
